Through Her Eyes
by Axial Nibelung
Summary: A baby found with a card asking the founder to take care of the baby, and a bloody print beside it. But once she got accepted into the Cresentfalls, everything takes a turn. My first official fanfiction. Uses system of RO and some animes.
1. Chapter 0 Part 1

_Chapter 0-1: Beginning._

Within a lush, green forest, the cries of a newborn baby echoed throughout the entire area.

An adventurer, holding a large backpack, was wandering around the forest at the very same time. The cries caught his attention, which made him searched for it.

Every step he took made him nearer, yet further away from the child. The cries seemed to be coming from all over the place, and it has completely confused his sense of direction. Cutting through a bush, he tripped over something…

On the ground, groaning as he recovered from the fall, he examined his surroundings and has finally found the source – the baby, in a basket that was being covered by the bush that he tried to cut through.

Pulling the basket out and dusting away the leaves, he searched the baby and found a small card. On it had "_Take good care of her…_" scribbled over it. A small red print ended the sentence. However, after closely scrutinizing that very print, he discovered the print to be made of blood!

Casting the card away, he pulled back the cloth that was covering the baby. No hair at all, her eyes weren't even opened too. Just how old could the baby be?

With his basket in his hands, he slowly walked away from the forest, towards his destination.

Without being noticed, a figure stood out of hiding but was still being covered by the shades.

"May the great, Lord Odin be with you, young chosen one…"

_A few months later…_

"Honey!" The voice of a man exclaimed loudly throughout an odd-looking, wooden Comodo house. "I'm **finally** home!" the very same voice added, the person barging through the door happily.

His cloak was still worn over his sage outfit. At 6 feet 2 inches he stood high up, with a really straight posture. His light brown hair was fuzzy and messy all over. Thanks to his cloak, his skin is still on the fair side, but it still looked like a Payonese's. In his hands was a basket – what's inside the basket is unknown. What could a big, black riding hood bring home to granny? Well, not granny… but still.

From the stairs, came down a female person who was wearing a sombrero hat along with a tank top and long pants. "Oh, you're finally back, dear!" she finally gasped after gazing at him.

The man chuckled. "Yeah I am, with a present too… but, I think you might want to remove that silly looking hat first," he said light-heartedly.

Excited, she literally threw the hat onto the couch nearby without damaging it. With a smile, she ran down and hugged him tightly. "A present, eh?" she whispered into his ears. Her eyes then spotted the basket that he was holding. "Is it that thing?" she giggled out.

"Yeah…" he then broke the hug and invited her over to the living room. "Shall we? That Kafra transportation really gave me a headache," he added.

"Okay… but first!" Her hands grabbed the handle of the basket, her muscles contracted and began pulling the basket out of his hand.

"What are you trying to do!" he said in a raised tone before he tightened his grip on the basket. It was a game of Tug-o-War… except with the fragile handle of a basket.

"Let go already, dear! You **did** say it was a surprise for me… right?" she then pulled with all her might, which shoke the basket really hard. It woke the baby up, which let out a loud cry that completely stopped both of them from pulling the basket anymore.

Her face immediately turned gloomy. "You call **that** a surprise?" she said before she let go of the handle and turned the other way around.

"She was left in the forest, okay? That time she would've probably died or something, especially at her age," he tried to convince her. She merely shook her head.

"Please, Rachael…" He paused for a while, but her lack of response was rather predictable. "She was barely a few days old,"

"Do you have any idea how many children we have right now, Sam?" Rachael whimpered out. "Do you know **just how old we are**?" she added loudly. Sam looked down onto the ground, before turning towards her again. "Take a look at the baby," he said softly before handing the basket towards her.

Knowing how stubborn her husband is, she took a glimpse of the baby and still didn't give even the slightest movement.

"Please, for me?"

Rachael turned around, with her breath taken away, she whimpered a really faint "Fine," and added a "But," before collapsing onto the ground, shocking Sam who panicked like a mad man, sending him yelling for help around the house, which eventually spreaded to his faithful neighbour who was, with such a coincidence, also a priest.

All the presence of sound began to be blurred, messy and was beginning to fade away – become softer and softer. Rachael was immediately carried out and into a nearby Priest's Shrine to be treated immediately. All the villagers came out to aid, but 4 women were left with their mouth wide agape, standing there motionless. With a hand closing the mouth, or turning away with tears in the eyes, even staring at the ground with eyes closed, they just stood there. Why didn't they help?

Sam finally emerged from his house and noticed the ladies. He called out to them, which made them all gathered in a circle.

After gazing at each other for a long time, all of them then hugged each other – their sobs of sorrow were finally let loose.

"How is she?" asked the worried Sam who was sweating all over.

The leader of the priest group merely shook his head. "She's escaped death, but she's really sick…" the priest then turned his face away.

Sam held his hand on his forehead. "Isn't there anything?"

"It's like cancer. It may be treatable, though not guaranteed, but if it strikes the second time…" he then paused for the words to sink in. Cancer is among the most common diseases these days and it's not surprising if Sam does know a lot about it.

Sam couldn't make a decision. What if the treatment fails? What if the side-effects are too severe? What if it strikes again too soon? He couldn't take everything into account. A racing heart made his mind so nervous that right behind his thoughts of confusion was simply a blank void.

"Dad, just do it," Stood out one of the women from the bench. Standing 5 feet 4 inches, her unique, silver, shoulder-length, and braided hair rested on her large chest. Her bronze eyes were staring right into his amethyst ones. "Please…"

Sam let out a deep, long sigh. Knowing how this would be painful, he made up his reasons and gave the doctor his best wishes. Somehow – he knew something was going to happen. A grim look implanted itself onto Sam's face as the doctor proceeded to Rachael's room to begin the treatment.

Mean while, back at the Priest's Shrine, every single person who are friends with Rachael; who actually know her, gathered to pray to God Poing for her protection over her kind soul. Everything won't be the same without her – and that statement is seriously literal.

Turning back towards the ladies, he ordered them to return back to work – or at least try to do so. Obviously, all of them denied it but seeing how they needed the money, they hadn't a choice.

"But, Miya, if this will seriously affect your dance…" his sentence froze there. Miya – his eldest daughter, who asked him to let the doctor proceed with the treatment barely minutes ago – faced him again.

"It won't, Dad… as long as I dance a sad one," she wanted to smile but how could she?

He send her his last words right when she was about to go through the entrance. "Just… try to cheer up, okay?"

A faint smile knocked his serious looks off when he saw her nod. From there, he headed towards and made himself comfortable on the bench that was right outside of Rachael's room. He wasn't allowed inside during treatment – but he was dying to get in. What if it would be the last time he sees her? Only the Lord knows what to do with him…

With his hands held together, he closed his eyes and prayed from the bottom of his heart… especially for the baby to see her…

Unfortunately, his prayer was interrupted when someone in a dark cloak called out to him… "Sam Cresentfall?"

"You're interrupting his prayer," he returned the call spontaneously, because the voice was of a voice that he was too familiar with.

The person pulled his hood back. "You're due,"

"I know,"

"Then you should also know what to do,"

"Not today,"

"Oh it'll be today alright," the sound of a sword unsheathing was created. Sam's eyes opened slowly.

Staring at the unsheathed katana, he asked, more like he stated bluntly, "That a threat?"

"It depends…" the person held the handle. Immediately when he tightened his grip and was about to send it swinging at Sam's throat, Sam calmly told him, "Take this outside,"

He loosened his hand on the katana and withdrew it. "Very well, narrow places like these are your thing too, not mine," and through the open window, both of them jumped out and while both are still in mid-air, Sam launched an energy bolt at him without delay.

The person used his unsheathed katana to deflect the bolt. When both landed on the ground, Sam remarked arrogantly, "So you plan to cheat with that oridecon sheath?"

"It's not like I'm the only one who cheated," the person said while he shrugged.

Sam smirked. "I guess that's true now, isn't it – Roachy?"

A face of annoyed, rekindled anger took over the person's face. "I have a name, you ass!" he exclaimed before he dashed at the speed of sound towards Sam, who had already charged an energy bolt. He backed off to barely avoid the powerful swing of the person's katana and at the same time he swung the energy bolt at him, only to be deflected again by the oridecon sheath.

The person took a step forward and had successfully knocked Sam down with his oridecon sheath. He quickly drew out the katana and placed it near Sam's face. "So, remember this name as you go down to hell – it is…!" Before he could finish, he immediately backed off as Sam shot out a large energy laser towards the sky – which he thought was suppose to hit him.

"Yeah, yeah, Roachy, I know you used to be called Nova, but that name sucks… besides, you **do** look like a Roach," he said sarcastically as he pointed towards the two strands of hair sticking out like a cockroach's antenna.

Nova had dark skin, his eyes were chocolate brown – but seemed black. His hair was jet black and was tied to the back – but he has the tendency to leave two strands sticking out the front.

He stands 5 feet 4 inches tall. A tad bit short, but his agility makes up for it, like a super charged roach. Moving at the speed of sound is merely child's play for him. If he's pissed, he could "teleport" if he wants to.

Right now, he's wearing a back shield that is dark brown in colour. The only missing property would be two extra legs.

His right eye was twitching. "If you don't want to play nice…" he held up both the oridecon sheath and his katana and then switched into his battle stance. "…then I won't play nice either!" Moving slightly faster than the speed of sound, he appeared right in front of Sam with an evil grin. Sam, however, simply smiled before casting a curse onto Nova that decreased his agility. The effect slowed down his attack speed, which made it easy for Sam to avoid his attack.

"Sht," Nova cursed into the air. Now, Sam might be a sage, but he's one of a kind. Well, how many sages do you know that have actually mastered other job's skills?

Sam chuckled. "That's a present for you, so enjoy it" he then surrounded himself with an enchantment – it was the _Increase Agility_ skill. "Now that that's done… we should be on par, right? Well, only for now…" Sam cockily "informed" Nova of their current state, at the same time he took out a small knife – no, it wasn't just a knife, it was a Damascus!

"We'll see about that!" Both of them then leaped at each other with almost identical speed – of course, Nova was faster, but Sam has caught up immensely. The metal clashing between Sam's Damascus and Nova's katana pierced through the whole village – catching everyone's attention, especially Miya – who was the only child of Sam who actually know of his problems. After all – she's already 25.

"Dad, use your Mighty Staff!" she shouted.

"Oh, yeah, forgot about that one," he slipped the Damascus into a small pouch, located at the back of his. Out of nowhere, he took out a long, dull-looking, metal staff that had a large, glowing orb on top.

Nova held up his weapons again. "Stupid btch," he cursed again before dashing towards Sam – this time, as fast as he could.

Even so, he wasn't fast enough. Sam held up the staff and blocked the powerful blow without even being pushed back a bit. With a smile, he turned the staff around and side stepped out of the way before Nova had the chance to withdraw all the force he was using. Because of that, he fell forward and Sam stomped once on him.

"You're lucky I feel merciful today," he told Nova. "Who knows what this staff can actually do… right?" Fear finally began to crawl into Nova's heart.

"Now, tell your cute little boss – Shorty – that he won't be getting his cash today, and dumb little lackeys like you aren't enough to take someone like me down. If he really wants me, ask him to send God or something," Sam used his psychic powers to transport the staff to somewhere else. He crouched and with both hands, he carried Nova up. "With that said, you be a good boy and fly back, okay?" Right after Sam said that, Nova struggled but to no avail.

Sam swung him in circles – building up the momentum. At the same time, he was building up an artificial energy force at his hands. After a few rounds, instead of just letting go of Nova, he **pushed **Nova using the momentum **and **the energy force, literally sending the screaming kid flying home.

Dusting his clothes, Miya hopped towards him and gave him a hug. "Thank God…" she said with a relief. "Although, you **did** make that fight looked like it was effortless…" she joked.

Sam chuckled loudly. "Nothing to worry about. That was an easy fight…" his face then changed into a grim one. "…the real one's about to come,"

Miya stopped hugging him. She knew what he was talking about. Sam noticed her looks and quickly tried to joke, "Anyways, try to dance a **happy** one now, okay?" before heading back into the Priest's Shrine.

Everyone returned to their usual activities. Two women returned back to Sam's house because they were worn out and tired. Comodo's the city of night – there is no such thing as "day time" over there. The sky is **always** dark, no matter what.

After unlocking the door with their house key, both of them entered the house.

"Dad sure had a fight today, huh?" The tall, green-haired lady said.

The petite, scarlet-haired lady replied, "Nah, fights like that are child's play to him," she immediately entered their "specially customized" laundry room that seemed no different than any other laundry rooms. She took off her vest and her white blouse – only leaving her bra on – and made a three-pointer shot into one of the baskets. Clearly, her breasts were ample.

"Hey, do you want to visit Mom later?" The green-haired lady asked. She took off her scarf and her blue, archer blouse – also leaving only her bra – turned them into a ball and attempted a long, fluke shot into the basket. But, the other person was in the way so it ended up landing on her head instead.

"Damn it, Ayla, you really should stop doing that" she said grumpily before picking up her younger sister's clothes and dumped them into a different basket.

"Sorry, Natty!"

"**Don't call me Natty! My name is NATSUMI!**" she screamed at the top of her voice, only to have the cries of a baby follow through. Ayla murmured out with Natsumi's notice, "You're shorter than me anyway," which was further muffled by the baby's cries. Wait…

"A **baby**?" Both of them screamed out with shock in exact unision.


	2. End of Chapter 0

_Chapter 0-2: The Child._

"Ok, Dad, I'm happy about having a younger sister…" Ayla said hurriedly. "…but she's **way** too young!"

"But, Ayla dear…" Sam sighed. "I hadn't the heart to let her die out there, especially when she just came into the world,"

"Dad, I'm the youngest and yet I'm **17**! That kind of age gap is like… you know…" Ayla paused and gave a hand gesture while searching for the suitable word to use.

"It's like crap, right?" Natsumi pasted the word to complete her sentence.

"Uh, right," Ayla said with a sweat drop drooping over her head.

"Okay, okay, we'll discuss about it when Mom's back on track, okay?"

Natsumi stopped leaning on the nearby wall. On her two feet, she mentioned, "Been weeks since you said that," She held up a flame bottle, which she took from the cart that she brought along. "We're alchemists, Dad. We may not be those doctor Priests but we know. Otherwise, how can we create medicine?"

"You mean you and your green-haired sister over there are Alchemists," he 'rephrased' her sentence without even bothering about good etiquette. "Why does it bother you so much, anyway?"

"It depends you know… like, if we have to baby sit her and all…" Ayla said while scratching her head.

"Mom can do that,"

Natsumi glared at him with burning eyes. "Mom's sick, Dad! She's **sick**!"

"I **know**…"

"Then why the 'Mom can do that'?" Natsumi said loudly, as if she was about to shout.

Sam had nothing to say. What's so wrong with bringing back a little baby?

Natsumi took in a deep breath before she spoke again. "Just think about it, Dad. I doubt she'll even be our younger sister," she turned around and headed towards the entrance.

"When she's 7, Ayla – the **ex**-youngest sister – would be 24… well, not that it matters, **I guess**,"

Again, Sam didn't respond. He simply sat on the bench and gazed at the ground.

At the door of the entrance, Natsumi stopped. "Just… make sure you involve us when it comes to her, okay?" she then walked out of the Priest's Shrine. Ayla was right behind her right when Natsumi took a step outside.

"Was that very choice… actually… wrong?"

"Dad?" One of the nurse Priestesses called out.

It was the second eldest daughter. She stood about 5 feet and 8 inches tall, which netted her the tallest child of the 4. Her skin complexion is very smooth – there's a bit of dark spots on her hands but otherwise perfect – and leans a bit more on the fair side. Her priestess outfit makes her legs very sexy. Her chest was large, alright – but not ample like Miya's.

"Yeah," Sam replied with his left hand raised.

"Our doctor wants to see you in Mom's room." She then turned around with her back facing him.

Sam went up to her and hugged her from behind. He whispered into her ears, "Thanks, Melissa, especially the baby…" During the weeks, he had to send the baby into Melissa's care. The other 3 sisters refused to do so. He figured it'd do a 21 year old quite good. Those words that came out from his mouth caused a faint, light pink touch on her cheeks. She shook her head weakly before she went on to continue her work. Can't slack now, can she?

He took in a deep breath. It has been weeks, and finally the "results" arrive. He braced himself before he entered the wooden door.

"Doctor?"

"Please, Sam, sit," he said, patting the nearby chair that was within his reach. Sam walked over and just did what the doctor wanted him to do – well, to sit.

"Will she be-"

"Now, now, Sam…" The doctor cut him off as if he knew he would be going into a flurry of words in an uncontrolled manner, that it would disturb Rachael's rest. "Save your questions for next time. Right now, you have a very important decision to make,"

It's not like there'll be a next time now, is there? But, yeah, he expected a decision alright. Just, a decision to what? He nodded so that the doctor can continue.

"She's stabilized, however she might have to live on a special type of medicine,"

"What's wrong with her?"

"I have no idea, but her heart is damaged and is very weak right now. The medicine will enable her heart to function normally,"

Tears began to collect itself within Sam's eyes. "Is there no other way?"

"There **is** an experimental treatment," Immediately after Sam heard what the doctor said, he shook his head.

"So, you plan to do the former?"

"What other choice do I have?"

"The latter is risky, but… you could always… you know,"

"**No**!" Sam exclaimed. She's his wife! Someone he **loves**! How could the doctor think of such thing? His loud voice woke up Rachael who murmured out some words that caught the attention of both men.

"Rachael!" Sam whimpered before landing on his knees, right beside her bed.

"Doctor…" she called out faintly. The Priest stood right beside Sam before she continued. "May I have… a word with him… please?" Sam looked at the doctor with puppy eyes before he nodded.

Before he exited the room, however, he whispered "If anything happens, **yell**," and out the door the priest went.

"Oh God, dear, I can't bear to see you like this," He quickly turned his feelings into words but Rachael sticked her finger on his lips.

"Have you named her?" she asked slowly… weakly.

"Nope," he answered with a smile. "I think… you have a better taste when it comes to names,"

Rachael giggled. "That's because all of our children are daughters," she picked up the pace, as if her condition is returning to her normal state.

Sam scratched his head. "Now that you mention it…" Rachael laughed faintly.

"Let's give her a really unique name," Sam suggested. Rachael thought of the same thing. She asked, "I think Aya would be nice,"

"You really like those Gonryun, Amatsu-ish names, huh?" he joked. He brushes her hair before he gave his suggestion, "How about… Axial?"

"It sounds nice… but, isn't that a bit more on the boy's side of the names?"

"Nah, it works fine for **our **daughter…" Sam then went nearer to Rachael. He bent over and leaned his head onto hers, face to face, eye to eye, mouth to mouth.

"I'll get you out of here as soon as I can, okay?" he told her before he kissed her forehead before he returned to his original, straight posture. "In the mean time, you get well as soon as you can, so…" he then gave a hand gesture, telling her to rest.

"Thank you, honey… thank you so much,"

Sam simply smiled. More like, he simply forced a smile on his face. He went out of her room to find the doctor sitting on the bench.

"Will the medicine be expensive?"

"It won't be, over here, but in the world outside… who knows how high that medicine can go,"

"Okay then," he began walking towards the entrance of the Priest's Shrine.

"Are you sure?" the doctor asked. He needed to make sure Sam was very firm with his decision.

Sam paused a while in his steps, before he continued walking out of the small building. The doctor took that as a yes and went to prepare for the prescription.

When Sam was outside, he saw the area where he and Nova fought. The memories of his problems returned. He had to take care of it, somehow… but, just **how**?

"Mr. Cresentfall?" a deep, monstrous voice called out. Sam's head turned to the side so that the person is at the very corner of his view.

"What the hell does a monster like **you** have to do with **me**?" he questioned him.

"We're here to take you down today," a very familiar voice spoke up. Sam's eyes opened up wider before he turned himself around.

"I guess Shorty really listened to my comments?" he said sarcastically. Sam was staring at a half a dozen Assassins, accompanied by Nova and a large… monster. "Oh, by the way, what kind of experiment is **that**?" he said while pointing at the large "person".

"One designed to kill you," Nova gladly told him. "Go get him, Rybio," he ordered. The large monster responded "Yes, sir!" before he leaped towards Sam, aiming at his heart for an instant kill.

Sam threw an energy bolt towards the Rybio. However, when the bolt hit him right in the face, the Rybio didn't flinch at all. It was if he moved through the bolt like he moved through the air. There was no effect!

"So, energy bolts don't work anymore?" he said sarcastically. "Well, there goes my fun spell," he added before he began to charge an energy force on his palms

"It's useless! Your spells won't work on me!" The Rybio boasted before he held up his razorblade to slash down on Sam. However, before he did so, Sam crouched and slammed both of his palms onto the ground. Immediately, at the Rybio's position, large spike emerged from the shaking ground, forcing the Rybio to leap backwards.

"At least they work on your reflexes," Sam said before he held up a small, red crystal. The crystal flashed brightly a few times, and fused with his Damascus. It was the Endow skills that the Sages were proud of. The red crystal represented the element of Eddga – the fire element. The Damascus began to glow in red as fire began to coat its blade.

From the air, Sam materialised a shield. He equipped it and casted the _Increase Agility _spell on himself before he dashed towards the Rybio with amazing speed.

The Rybio did the same, of course. Using both of its razorblades, when Sam was within range, it swiped across horizontally. Sam merely blocked the Rybio's attack with his shield and using his Flame Damascus he attempted a pierce on the Rybio's chest, but it side stepped out of his range.

He turned around just in time to block the Rybio's second attack, which was an overhead, powerful slash. Sam had to use both of his hands to withstand the force. Knowing he needed to be stronger than that, he began to charge an energy force at his hands – which he unleashed to break off the Rybio's force. From there he tried to slash the Rybio by its chest on purpose because he knew that it **will** step backwards to avoid it, and it really did. Immediately, he smited his shield that had an energy layer on its surface onto the Rybio, which knocked it meters away from Sam, back to where Nova is standing at.

That successful hit made Nova clap his hands. "Spectacular skills!" he praised sarcastically. "Since the bolts won't work, you used the energy to aid your physical abilities. Simply a genius!"

"Unlike a roach," Sam said while his eyes looked away.

"But… it's just too bad we were sent here to assassinate you!" Nova continued while trying to keep his cool before unsheathed his katana and moved at his top speed.

Immediately, he was behind Sam. He was about to stab him from the back but Sam swung his shield around, which Nova dodged with ease. Sam's other hand, however, had a spell on it which he tried to inflict on Nova, but missed because of Nova's agility. He leaped into the air before Sam could actually hit him.

"No sht, Sherlock. That dumb trick won't work on me again," Nova then landed on Sam's back and leaped of him – pushing the lone Sage onto the ground. Immediately when Sam landed on the ground, however, earth spikes began chasing Nova, who whined annoyingly about Sam's futile attempts to hit him.

Sam stood up while the spikes kept Nova occupied. On his left palm, he was charging up an energy bolt, and on his right palm, he was creating the _Decrease Agility_ spell. When both of the spells were ready, he fused both of them into one, and called out to his Mighty Staff – which appeared on his right arm. He then endowed the magical effect onto his weapon, and turned towards his enemies in his offensive stance.

"Oh, that stupid thing again?" Nova said before he cracked the last Earth Spike with his oridecon sheath before he leaped towards Sam.

"It might be stupid, but it always work on roaches," the Sage insulted calmly. He threw the shield towards Nova, who knocked it away with his sheath, but was caught off guard when Sam dashed at him with incredible speed. His Mighty Staff came in contact with Nova's katana with such force, that he was pushed off into the air. Right after that, Sam instantly launched a Fireball towards him. Since the Assassin was still in mid-air, he had no choice but to throw his sheath towards the sphere of fire. When both came into contact, a large explosion was created and Nova landed on his feet – this time, one oridecon sheath lighter than before.

"Damn it, what are you guys doing? **Get him**!" He ordered with rage, but his crew ran off for their lives. "The Great Nova" was beaten by a Sage. Of all things, a **sage**!

"Fine then, hopefully boss'll eat you alive or something," he turned towards Sam. "Rybio, get up you lazy ass, we have to take him down or boss's going to kill us,"

The Rybio stood up. It shook its head a bit before it held up its razorblades. Together with Nova, it charged recklessly towards Sam, who prepared himself for another attack.

Half-way through, though, Nova suddenly disappeared into thin air and within a split second he appeared behind Sam with his katana high up in the air. Right before he was about to swing the weapon onto Sam, he shouted "Now!" towards the Rybio, causing it to increase its own speed.

Using his right hand, Sam held the Mighty Staff above his head, blocking the attack. Immediately he turned around – with the katana still stuck to his staff – and tried to do a palm strike covered with Fire Energy onto Nova's abdominal area, but to no avail as he immediately side-stepped and withdrew his katana. From there he stabbed the blade into the ground, causing spikes to emerge from the ground, forcing Sam to leap into the air.

The Rybio immediately leaped up into the air, reaching towards Sam. It tightened its grip on its weapons and outstretched its hands high above its head – ready to attack him. Sam held up a red gemstone and threw it towards the Rybio. It tried to knock the gemstone away using its razorblades, but that was what Sam wanted it to do – when both items came in contact with each other, they fused and the razorblade turned into stone.

So the Rybio is one weapon lighter. Fine, it still has its other weapon – which doesn't stop it from attacking Sam who is right next to it. However, before it decided to land its weapon onto Sam's head, the sage swung his Mighty Staff towards it – making the Rybio block his attack with its only weapon left. Then, with his free hand, he did a palm push into its abdomen and the energy force on his palm shot the Rybio, which instantly sent it flying towards the ground.

Sam landed safely, still keeping the Rybio in his view. "Why must Shorty experiment on Glast Heim's monsters anyway," he remarked towards himself. Nova was right behind him without his knowledge, well, only for now.

"Dad, behind you!" exclaimed a really familiar voice. Sam turned around to see Natsumi, who threw acid bottles towards something behind him. He looked to the side to see Nova. The Assassin was about to slice him into half if Natsumi didn't throw the acid bottles with such high speed and accuracy.

He used his psychic energy to hold the staff in air. He held both of his palms near each other and an energy sphere began to appear from thin air, which kept growing larger and larger.

Nova kept on dodging and knocking away the knocking acid bottles. "Stinking btch," he mumbled with rage before he began dashing towards her, somehow forgetting all about Sam.

The oncoming acid bottles were easily evaded, but when he was about to reach her, Sam aimed his massive energy sphere at Nova and shot a laser towards him – which pushed him off towards the mountain nearby with so much force that it was like a meteor from outer space hitting the ground.

"So, is **everybody** dead?" he wondered out loud, as if done on purpose.

Natsumi scratched her head. "Well, least you're not dead," she turned around and returned to the local laboratory. Half way through, she turned back towards her father.

"Um… have you named her yet?" she asked timidly.

"Pardon me?" Sam replied.

"Have you named her yet?" she asked, this time in a much louder voice.

Sam nodded. "Axial," he answered her.

"Well, something different, eh?" she said before continuing her way back to the local laboratory.

"What's so different about that?" Sam thought before he decided to return back to his home.


	3. Chapter 1 Part 1

_Chapter 1-1: When life starts moving._

"Oi! Vincent, isoginasai We're going to be late," cried a feminine voice. Isoginasai means Hurry up!

In the male's dressing room, a dark-green-haired bard was busy trying to tie up his cape. He was in his properly-made bard outfit, which had his shirt tucked in and neatly arranged. Not only that, he stands at a mere 5 feet 5 inches tall. "Uh… right!" he replied, not knowing what language she used when she called for him. But, the "We're going to be late" literally gave away what she was trying to say, though, so it didn't matter that much to him.

He came running down the stairs with lots of ruckus, and through the crowd of crew he squeezed through. Luckily, he was quite slim and tall, so people might make way for him – and if they didn't he could at least try to slip through.

He eventually stopped by a huge stage – the curtains weren't drawn yet, and the crowd was making a lot of noise. He saw his partner, and adjusted his spectacles and prepared himself.

"Vincent! You baka, you're late!" whispered the silver-blue-haired dancer with anger. Baka literally translates into Idiot, moron and the like.

She approached him, and the difference in height became obvious. Her silver-blue-hair made her stood out. Her eyes were – surprisingly – grey in colour, and she stood high at 5 feet 8 inches, severely injuring Vincent's pride as a boy – who are expected to be taller than the girls at this time of the age. Her figure was near perfect, and was very similar to another persons figure. Her skin was nicely taken care of, as it appeared flawlessly smooth and fair. Not a single scar could be found on her.

She was wearing the irresistible dancer outfit, which made her look really sexy. It took her a really long time to get used to this – she felt like some kind of a weird nude star at first, but when people began to stop bothering her about this, she slowly adapted and blended within. Her skirt covers from the back of her waist, right down to the ankles while she only has her undergarments on – which – obviously – leaves the rest of herself exposed. That's not the end of it, for they are going to act a play to the whole village of Comodo.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "My cape wouldn't stick, and the cool thing about bards-"

"Hai, hai Bards get those cool capes. I know, so stop telling me already," she then began shoving him towards the opposite side. "Now get into position! We can't screw this up – or my sister **will **screw **us** around," Hai, in this situation, is used as Yeah.

Hesitantly, he moved towards the other side. A small, wooden stool was waiting for him to sit on, and he did so, taking 2 deep breaths to push away his nervousness. This time, the crowd is simply tremendous – it's probably the whole of Comodo village watching their play. Well, after all – with a beautiful dancer like her and a talented but stupid bard like him, why not? Her seemingly perfect dances – which her sister always find some unnoticeable flaw to boss her around with – and his wonderfully yet coincidentally suitable music created the best pair there is around.

Without a doubt, though, that was what he thought.

"I warn you - don't you **dare** daydream. Zero-kun's skills are ten times better than yours, but yours are just… ugh, I don't even know how to describe it," she threatened while glaring furiously at him.

If there's a –kun behind someone's name, it normally means the person who mentioned the name and the person with that name are close.

Oh, that's right. That dimwit Zero… he forgot all about him, the top student in class. He still remembered that day when their lecturer remarked on how a person like Zero could actually transcend much earlier than all of them. Upon that thought, his blood began to boil. At the same time, the curtains began to draw…

Half way through, though, Vincent let out a roar that disgusted every single person in the audience. The dancer only stared at him; her eyes were twitching, in her eyes you could see a ball of flame being rekindled into a forest fire.

"Axial, **why**? Why must it be **him**?" he exclaimed loudly, catching everyone's attention. It was supposed to be a play, after all, but theirs was more focused on dancing and performing rather than conversations.

"Uh, Vincent, I don't know what you're talking about…" she said, scratching her head while forcing a smile at the same time. She couldn't run up to him and throw him around like a cursed, voodoo doll – trying to injure the person that the doll is "imitating", which would probably be Vincent anyway.

The dark green, messy haired bard turned around to see all the audience's attention towards him. He knew it – they thought it was part of the play.

"Fine… fine. Let your dance show me everything Your one and only, beautiful dance that every mankind has longed for!" he played along, showing an annoyed face before he sat back on the stool. He knew it – Miya's going to kill him. Hell, he could assure, although he didn't want to be smacked around by a mad woman like her.

He held up his lute. His fingers breezed through the strings in a proper order, in a very soft manner – while, at the same time, timing the tune… and the volume. Everyone recognized what song he was playing, and it was a beautiful song indeed, among the only songs which he actually perfected – the Song of Lutie.

And so their play finally began… With the slow, graceful dance.

"She's all grown up now, isn't she?" A Sage, who was sitting at the front row, remarked.

"She sure is, dear," answered the priestess beside.

The Sage was grizzly haired, and his skin complexion was of an old man's. But that doesn't put him at the back row – for he is still energetic and living healthily. In fact, he is still working out his duty as a Sage… as THE Sage of Judo.

The priestess, who was sitting beside him, had highlights of grey-ish hair that partially camouflages itself within her bright, blonde hair.

"Hey! Mom, Dad," A long, green haired alchemist whispered from behind. "Where do you think Natsumi is?"

"Well, I think she **did** tell me that she'll be here… with someone that she'd like all of us to meet," the Sage answered.

"What?" she said in a raised tone, which caused everyone to hiss at her. Looking back at her parents, she continued. "Any idea where they might be?"

"Ayla dear, she might be late, you know," the priestess then requested that she sit down and watch the play that her youngest sister is performing in… the play that her eldest sister thought of.

Annoyed, tempted yet without a choice. She simply sat down and looked everywhere else **except **the stage, her mind only wondering just what the hell Natsumi is doing.

"Kaz… please," a scarlet haired alchemist pleaded.

She was pulling a crusader towards the Bards and Dancers Academy of Comodo. She was petite – 5 feet 3 inches, but that doesn't make her any less pretty, for she worked hard for her very own body. Yup, something that she was very proud of. Her scarlet haired was pulled back with a simple pink hair band, and her hair was at shoulder's length. Her nose was sharp, and she had thin lips. Her eyebrows were nowhere near thick, but her eyes were of a pair beautiful, priceless amethyst.

"No, I'm not ready yet," which put her pleads to a waste. The crusader managed to break himself free from her tight grip.

He was a rather large sized man – his, seemingly, extra large plate mail makes him look extremely bulky. The cape that was stuck to his back, didn't help much either, but he does stand at an exact 6 feet with pride. He had a single scar that seemed to be a graze from some object. It was diagonal from his right to his left, and was located on his forehead. Not that it matters too much, but it seemed to resemble something.

His dark-crimson hair was covering one of his eyes, although it was only slight. But, he didn't think of that as a nuisance, but rather as something to his advantage. Because of his eyes. They were the eyes of a devil, despite how it was of a unique topaz. It was the irregular shape of his pupil. They weren't circle, they were oval… and, longitudinal. It made him look like a devil, but it was because of this difference that Natsumi managed to have her very own eyes beautify his when they were stuck on him.

She sighed, before turning him towards him. "For me,"

"You **always** say that,"

"Because it's **always** for me,"

"What about **me**?"

Boy, that really shut her mouth up.

"I… I'm sorry, I'll –"

"No… you're right,"

The dark-crimson haired crusader's face turned gloomy.

"Because of that… you…" she paused there. Her mouth moved but there was no air movement through her trachea – through her throat. There was no sound, like she became dumb.

The crusader, Kazuya, took the opportunity. "I know how strict your parents are, although they've been quite lenient to you on other aspects,"

Natsumi looked at him in his eyes that have never scared her ever since the day she saw him.

He had a really faint, light blush on his cheeks. She looked so… beautiful, yet so sad and pitiful… He knew what would make her much more pretty… at least, in his view.

"I'll go," he said with a smile. Her tears trickled down her face, which was smiling faintly. He used the back of his palm and gently wiped away her tears. "There, there…" both of them hugged each other shortly before something struck her mind, which broke the hug.

"Oh no, I forgot that we're totally late!" Kaz scratched his head.

She held his hand and began pulling him. "Come on, let's go," she added. This time, with enthusiasm.

A huge round of applause echoed throughout the village as the play had finally ended. Both Vincent and Axial stood side by side and bowed, and exited the stage – one with an exhausted body and another with his fingers that are about to drop off.

And yet, the worse has yet to come.

"You two, here, **now**," Miya ordered. The exhausted pair barely walked and sat on the bench that Miya was standing in front of.

"Miya onee-san… please…" Onee-san means sister. There is also Onee-chan, but –san is more polite.

"You know what I want," she said while putting on her annoyed looks.

Vincent sighed. "I was angry, it's that simple,"

"Oh really?"

He nodded.

"You better thank the audience that you received such applause," she said while looking away.

Both of them, especially Vincent, let out a long sigh of relief.

She looked at the exhausted pair. Maybe she's too hard on them… just, maybe.

She slapped her hand on top of Vincent's head and began scrubbing his hair – making it messier, while saying, "I guess for once I can say 'Good job' to both of you,"

"Yeah, but your hand is saying a complete different thing,"

She withdrew her hand. Wasn't that the way to have some **good** effects or something like that on a person? Well, she casted everything aside. "Ok, Vincent… Go home,"

Well, he was about to do that anyway. After all, all the cleaning up of the back stage and other stuffs are done by the rest of the crew, not the performers – especially after those types of plays - plays that lasted for what seemed to be a life time.

When the door slammed shut, the sisters were left with each other. Miya went and made herself comfortable right beside Axial, who had no energy left to move her body.

"Tired?"

"Very,"

The silver-blue-haired dancer giggled upon hearing her youngest sister's answer. "I used to be you, you know…"

"But, onee-san, you're still a dancer… you can still dance, right?"

"I'm aged," she said before she held up her hands. She couldn't hold them still, they were shaking much more than she used to… much more than she expected. "I can't dance in this type of condition,"

Axial looked at her.

"Don't worry I'm still dancing too. Except this time, I'm dancing through you,"

Both of them smiled before Miya stood up. "Okay, time to see mom and dad,"

"And Natsumi onee-san too?"

"Yeah," Miya held her hand towards Axial to pull her up before both of them slowly went out the door.

Out in the hallway, they bumped into a navy haired bard who seemed to be looking for company.

"Zero-kun!" she said upon noticing him. Miya saw the looks in her sister's eyes. She whispered into her ears, "When you're done, you know where to go," before she continued on without her.

"Aki!" he replied before both of them ran towards each other, followed up with a warm hug.

When they were together, it was obvious both of them were of the same height. He was wearing the academy uniform, which was basically a white collar shirt with light brown pants, and the standard bard shoes. His eyes were cerulean, and rather almond-shaped but otherwise normal.

He wasn't those big strong boys with muscles. Well, what kind of bard would be that kind of a man? He was slim and it was clear that he had to maintain himself to achieve the proper figure.

"I was so nervous" Axial told him.

"Haha, but you did great," he gave his comment.

"I did? Demo, I would've been better if they chose you, Zero-kun" Demo means But.

Zero merely smiled. Actually, he didn't want to go for the play. Having the whole of Comodo watching him, and with his so-called perfect skills, everyone would probably "fall in love" with him and his music. Not that he didn't like that kind of reaction, but his life won't be the same when that happens.

Then something came across his mind. "But, Aki, why did Vincent act so weird?"

"Oh, Vincent? That baka… he was late," she said grumpily.

"I'm sure that wasn't why he acted so weird,"

She then used her fingers to "play" with her hair. "Because I told him that Zero-kun's skills are ten times better than his," Her eyes then looked away.

The bard chuckled. "You don't need to tell him that," he told her. Within his mind, he added, "I don't need to have yet another enemy,"

"Demo, it's true!"

He placed his fingers onto her lips. "Where is Miya-sama?" he inquired.

-Sama is normally used for someone with higher authority or someone who is respected, well-known, etc.

"Miya onee-san? She went ahead without me to our otou-san and oka-san,"

"By 'otou-san' and 'oka-san', you mean your parents?"

She nodded.

"Okay, let's go then,"

"Why do you want to see her?"

"I have some questions I would like to ask… and, besides, I guess meeting your parents won't be so bad,"

Both of them then followed the very same direction that Miya went at. They had a conversation with each other, but no audible dialogue could be heard. However, if you were to observe them a little closer, their hands…

Meanwhile, back at their house…

"Natsumi dear, what took you so long?" asked the brown haired priestess.

"Yeah! You promised you'd come by!" Ayla added.

"Sorry. We had a few problems on the way, and when we reached there…"

"The crowd was too big, eh?" the sage cut in. "I knew it, even I thought so. To have the whole of Comodo watch that play… Miya absurdly went too far,"

"I'm sure she didn't mean that," another priestess with jet black hair gave her comment. "She just wants people to know about Axi, that's all…"

"Even so, the **whole** of Comodo?"

"Anyways, Kaz I think you can come in now," she said before the crusader came in.

"Oh Natsumi, where did you get **this** hot little tin can, eh?" she said sarcastically while poking her shoulders.

"Please, Ayla. I'm not comfortable with you poking me," she said, trying to keep her cool in front of her lover.

A sweat drop trickled down the timid crusader's face before he introduced himself. "Uh… hello everyone, I'm Kazuya… Kazuya Riserdense,"

Everyone gazed at him blankly, except Natsumi – who was scratching her head upon their reaction.

"D-do any of you want to… you know, ask me q-questions?"

Instantly, everyone zoomed past Natsumi – towards him, and began showering him with so many questions, all at the same time, that he couldn't do anything but smile.

"Damn it, **one at a time**!" Natsumi exclaimed loudly, which made everyone zipped their mouth. Kazuya merely chuckled softly.

Suddenly, a voice from outside shouted, "Mom! Dad! I'm baaaaaaaaaaack"

The door was barged the very instant the shout stopped. Miya came in, to see a crusader staring at her.

"Well, well… who might you be?"

"Uh…" The crusader was too distraught to respond. He still remembered how Natsumi told him Comodo has many, many dancers and that he had to control himself, but Miya was the very first dancer that he saw during that day. The… exposure made his nose bleed… seriously.

Everyone backed away from him with disgust, except Melissa – who reached for the Willow Environmental Friendly tissues that were nearby and began to follow protocol. She made him sit on the nearby couch, with his head facing up words, so that the blood doesn't drip out.

"Okay… I'll go get something else for me and Axi to wear," she said before she went up the stairs.

Natsumi was sitting right beside her lover. She was worried about his nose bleed, but even more worried about how she's going to tell everyone her recent, little secret that no one except Kazuya knew about. Everything went wrong – she expected him to introduce himself smoothly, and then everyone asking questions about him properly. She, in particular, didn't expect him to have a nose bleed when he saw a dancer, and of all dancers… it was her eldest sister. But, well, she should've seen it coming. After all, how can everything happen the way you want it to?

Melissa was right beside the scarlet haired alchemist. She was scrutinizing her looks and her reactions. Natsumi used to be very calm, things like this won't worry her. A worried Natsumi means something big happened, and… well… Melissa noticed it. But, just what could've been big enough to worry her?

Natsumi then called out to everyone, requesting them to be seated around the living room. They all did what she said, some feeling sorry for Kazuya while others – more specifically, Ayla – was laughing her ass off.

"Everyone, I have something to tell you…" Upon hearing those words, Kazuya immediately faced her, not even caring about his bloody nose.

At the corner of Natsumi's eyes, she noticed him looking at him. His hand laid on her shoulder, and her hand laid on his hand.

Her eyes turned back towards everyone. They were on all ears, just as she expected.

She took in a deep breath before her mouth opened, only to have one single word leaked out: "I…" and then she stopped there.

"Natsumi dear, you can go ahead," Rachael said, her words pushing Natsumi's nervousness.

"Um…"

"So, this is your house?" Zero questioned.

"Hai!" Axial replied enthusiastically.

"Well, shall we?" Both of them then approached the entrance. Just as they were about to open the door, they heard everyone exclaiming "What?" loudly, all in perfect unision. The bard and dancer looked at each other with wonder, before they barged in through the door. Man, that door's going to break really soon if everyone were to constantly barge in…


	4. Chapter 1 Part 2

_Chapter 1-2: Ladies and Gentlewoman._

The two barged in to see each and everyone giving a different look towards Natsumi. Miya, on the other hand, threw a jacket and a knee-length skirt towards Axial.

She made hand gestures, showing her to wear them. She quickly held the coat over her body, and zipped it up – covering chest. She wrapped the skirt around her hips, and was just basically doing what her sister was signalling her to do. When they were done, all attention was turned to Natsumi.

A really awkward silence followed through, it was the moment that everyone just… gazed at each other.

But out of all of them, 3 people still had no idea just what the hell happened.

"So, how's your boy?" Miya asked while walking nearer towards her. She felt a bit guilty about making her sister's boyfriend bleed out of his nose, but its common when she walks around as a dancer… besides, everyone in Comodo was already used to seeing dancers, so why would she bother to cover herself anyway.

Natsumi blushed before looking at the crusader, who reacted by shrugging. Upon hearing Miya's voice, he was reminded of her body which turned him red.

She turned back and answered, seemingly unaware that no one actually knows the baby is really a male, "Fine," Right after that, gasps and mumbles followed through.

"So, you are carrying a little baby boy in your stomach right now?" Sam asked, to clarify his confusion – which confused the outdated trio.

Natsumi nodded anyway.

"You're pregnant?" Miya mentioned with shock. Instantly, Axial squeezed through everyone until she was right beside her sister, or more like a mother-to-be. She leaned forward, with puppy eyes, while asking curiously "Natsumi onee-san, you are really having an aka-chan?" aka-chan means a baby.

Again, she nodded.

"Sugoi!" she squeaked before Zero came in and began to pull her out, smiling reluctantly as he did so. Sugoi means Awesome! Cool! And the like.

"Zero-kun, what're you doing" she whined while letting Zero pull her. She never wanted to cause him trouble, so she didn't go against his pulling.

He whispered faintly into her ear, "Come. Let's go get some of that Comodo ice cream that you like, okay?"

"Yay" she said out happily before she went out of the house. Miya's eyes were looking at them. Zero turned around, before he held up his hands and stretched out 10 of his fingers. Miya nodded before he followed Axial out of the house.

"So, how far along are you?" Sam said before he looked at her stomach, which seemed flat although she was carrying a child in her abdomen.

"Already 2 months," she replied nervously.

"Hmm…" Sam paused. His fingers began to scratch his chin before he narrowed his eyes at her. "So, that's how long you've kept this from all of us?"

Natsumi didn't respond. She supposed so, since none of them knew about it.

"My, my… How you've grown, Natsumi dear," Rachael said kindly before she left the room to do something.

The scarlet haired alchemist sat back on the couch, beside Kazuya. When she did so, Ayla crept beside her and whispered her a question. "How did it feel?"

And she successfully confused her elder sister.

"Come on, you know Obviously you did **it**, right?" she said with a sly grin.

A blush quickly formed itself on her cheeks. Her eyes quickly looked away, and Sam slapped his face into his palms.

It was something that the Cresentfall family weren't too proud of. To have 4 daughters, but only to have one of them married. Miya had not even the slightest intention – she had the mindset that all men are just retarded perverts who want a piece of her body, while Melissa just preferred her single status. Of course, that was what she thought, since her eyes were set on a priest that she works with… a lot, too.

"Okay, Ayla, can you help me with these?" she requested as she passed red-coloured cloths to the green-haired alchemist.

"What are these?" she questioned her curiously.

"You'll know soon enough, now come on," she said before she barely opened the door with her fingers and gave way to her sister. The door then slammed shut, leaving a couple – one who became a red hot chilli, the other just a paralyzed tree – with good ol' wise Sam and the aged dancer.

Sam signalled her to come closer. When she did so, he asked, "This true love?"

A sign of shock wiped over her previous embarrassment.

"Or is that unwanted pregnancy?"

"Dad!"

"Sorry, just curious," he said while his eyes rolled.

"Father, you know very well you shouldn't ask these kind of questions," Miya said out loud before she sat beside the flushed crusader, who seemed to have fainted a long time ago. "Natsumi, I think I killed your poor boy…" she said reluctantly before Natsumi rushed to his side. Oh, so she **finally** noticed how Kazuya was doing. Yes, the poor crusader…

At the same time, however, echoed a voice from outside. "All these are blood?"

"Zero-kun," Axial said before she licked her Cocoa-coated special Sporeberry flavoured ice-cream that could only be found in Comodo. "Why did you pull me out of the house?"

"Your sister is pregnant,"

"I know. Isn't that cool?"

"You'll know when you're pregnant,"

"Yeah, I can't wait to be pregnant!" she said enthusiastically with a smile, before she took another lick from her ice-cream.

Zero sat back on the sandy beach, staring over the dark ocean. Oh, how he missed sunlight…

He then took out his lute and refined his posture. His fingers laid on the strings, before he began to breeze through them in a preset pattern like the wind going through a forest. He was playing a slow, calm tune that sounded so familiar and yet was so different in a way that no one could figure out what he was playing… even Axial, included.

"Do you know this song, Axi?"

She merely shook her head before she gulped down her remaining ice-cream.

The navy-haired bard smiled at her before he reverted his concentration back onto his lute.

"Sugoi ne, Zero-kun. You can play so many types of songs," she complimented him. Zero barely chuckled. Sugoi ne basically means Amazing, cool and the like.

"Being able to play all these gives me the attention that I don't want, Axi," he explained. "My wish is to be somewhere that I can be alone – somewhere that I can play this until my full extend without anyone bugging me… without someone hating me,"

She cocked her head sideways when she looked at him. "I know where you can do that," she told him after a short pause.

He stopped playing his lute, and looked at her with surprise. "You do?"

"Hai. The place is very hard to reach though,"

"I don't care how hard it is. Just one time I'd like to play freely, just once…"

Before they knew it, the whole area was much darker than before. Guess it was "night time" for the city of night.

"Uh, so I'm going to be sleeping… here?" Kazuya said dully while pointing at the very couch he fainted in.

"Sorry, Kaz, but we don't have much space…" Natsumi replied reluctantly. She was smiling – but even the worn out crusader could tell she was actually trying to smile.

"Do I get company, though?" he said, this time with a sly smirk on his face.

"Oooh, so **that's **what you're thinking about?" she said in a sarcastic tone before she approached the stairs. "Unfortunately, not tonight. But, don't worry, I think we need a break from all those nights," she said before she giggled her way up the stairs, leaving a smiling – seemingly relieved – crusader.

He laid down on the couch, with his head on the arm rest. He stared blankly at the ceiling… his mind began to drift into his own world.

That was, of course, until someone suddenly popped out from the sofa nearby with a loud "Boo!"

It really freaked him out.

"What the hell?" he gasped as he tried to calm himself. The female giggled.

"I thought no company tonight?" he said before he wiped the sweat off his face.

"Of course," she replied before coming out of the shadows. No, it wasn't Natsumi.

"Huh?" The crusader rubbed his eyes. Oh, great. He forgot she had a twin sister.

"I think we need a break from all those nights," she repeated what Natusmi said. Kazuya merely blinked his eyes, which caused her to burst into laughter.

"I **told** her that she'll enjoy it," she informed the dumbfounded crusader with pride that was uncalled for.

Footsteps began to walk itself down the stairs, which made Ayla uneasy.

"You know very well what I want you to do," the voice said grimly. So **that **was why Ayla felt that way.

But, it didn't matter. She had what she needed. She immediately hopped her way up the stairs without much noise.

"Are you sure you're okay here?"

The crusader nodded before he quickly directed his eyes away. Miya sighed right after she noticed him doing so.

She went out of the house, through the entrance. Ah, yes… the poor crusader can finally sleep for once. He laid down, and began floating into his own ocean of thoughts… Luckily for him, this time without disturbance.

"Mm… Zero-kun…" mumbled a sleeping Axial who cuddled closer towards the bard's chest.

Looking down on her while stroking her silver-blue hair, he gently smiled before moving her head carefully onto the ground, using something soft as a pillow.

He stood up and moved away silently, keeping the dancer in view.

From the other side, Miya could be seen waiting for him. He took in a deep breath before he approached her.

"So… what do you need to know so badly that we have to meet so secretly?" she said while she crossed her arms.

"I want to get away from this… place,"

"Why?"

He didn't answer.

"What about her?"

Zero turned around took a glance of Axial before turning back to the white haired dancer. "Lord Odin will have to light her path then,"

Miya sighed yet again. How many times does she need to sigh in a day? She looked at him with eyes that seem to depict confusion. "What do you plan to do when you're… away?"

"To be alone is the rarest courage…" and Miya cocked her head sideways. What? She had no idea what he was talking about.

"A long, long time ago. That was what my mom used to tell me," he then forced a smile on his face.

But that smile has never fooled the experienced dancer. She knew him too well – after his parents left the world abruptly during the monster spree that made short work of them. Yes, she just knew him too well… literally, too well.

She looked up at the sky. It was a full moon, and they say the weirdest things happen under a full moon. She never believed it – but times like these really make her wonder if it is actually true, hell even partially true.

"But, Miya…" he interrupted before turning around, facing the sleeping Axial. "She told me she knows a place that I can be alone in… do you think she's speaking of the same place?"

"She was adopted. She shouldn't know about it,"

"Are you sure?"

"…"

Miya stood beside the bard. "Can't you stay a bit longer?"

Zero shook his head. "There's no choice,"

The dancer then sat down on the field of grass nearby. The bard followed her, but squatted instead.

She took in a deep breath and whispered into his ear about something. Various reactions took place, but he remained calm anyway.

A cool breeze blew past the whole of Comodo. A dancer was seen running up the narrow pathway, back to the hut she belongs to.

Just as she was getting up the pathway, the moonlight shone over her silver-blue hair, greatly reflecting its illumination around the place. She opened the door quickly, but crept in quietly instead.

And so it was finally the end of her long day. The last day she's ever going to see Zero.


	5. Chapter 1 Part 3

_Chapter 1-3: No, not without me._

"Mm… Zero-kun…" mumbled the sleeping Axial.

She opened her eyes and found herself on the beach. She took a glance of her surroundings before looking at the full moon.

"So pretty…" she remarked to herself before she stood up. She began looking around for something.

She ran up the nearby pathway that led up to the edge of the cliff nearby, in which allowed her to have an overhead view of the beach. A sense of worry crept into her heart, and she knew very well why. She couldn't find what she was looking for.

She went back to the academy and searched every single room – for any single bard, though there was barely any at that time.

Out of the academy she went, back to where Zero lives… maybe, to where he used to live. She knocked hard and rapidly on the door, but no one answered. She twisted the knob, and to her surprise – it wasn't locked. She rushed in.

Everything was the way it used to be since the last time she visited. Neat, something she loved about his house. Plain, neat, simple. She ran at the speed of a Wild Rose into the only room of the house – and it surprised her.

Everything was neat… neatly packed. More like, everything left was neatly packed. His clothes, his equipment, anything that he needs weren't there. Instantly after her mind processed this thought, she flew out of his house onto the borders of Comodo – hopefully she'll be lucky.

She ran as fast as she could. Gasping for air so fast, she only and merely focused on reaching the border at the speed of light. As she passed by her own house, suddenly she couldn't breathe. Her movements became shaky and in a split second she collapsed, and everything blacked out. Her heartbeat began to grow weaker and weaker, as her senses grew numb. The only thing she could feel… that she could hear was her dying heartbeat.

At the very last beat, her mind called out "Zero!"…

…Before she woke up from her bed, gasping for air.

Her eyes blinked. A bed? She turned her head around to find herself in her room.

She drowned her face on her palms, and suddenly something struck her mind – Zero!

She bounced out of her bed, changed her lingerie to proper dancer clothes - which wouldn't have seem much different if she didn't wear the knee length skirt – and raced time out of her house, not even noticing the note left on the family dining table.

Outside, she immediately headed for the academy, where many people were moving things in.

Obviously she bumped into Miya.

"Onee-san, have you seen Zero?" she asked between her gasps.

She shook her head before she gave an order to one of the facilitators.

The silver-blue-haired dancer immediately headed towards Zero's house. She knocked rapidly on the door, shouting his name as loud as she can.

When she finally ran out of energy to continue knocking the door, the knob finally twisted and the door opened – revealing an old lady.

"Excuse me, is Zero-kun in?" the exhausted dancer asked.

The old lady shook her head, and asked: "Who's Zero-kun?"

Shock spelled itself onto her face. Who's Zero-kun? "What do you mean who's Zero-kun?" she raised her voice.

The old lady seemed offended, to have someone younger than her raise her voice at her. She replied harshly, "I have never heard of anyone named Zero here. The house was vacant; I bought it and moved in. That's it," she then turned around and was about to slam the door.

But the dancer slipped in a question before she did so, "You don't know who's Zero-kun?"

The old woman made herself clear. "If I do, would I be asking you who he is?" and finally, she closed the door softly instead of slamming it.

The dancer dropped onto her knees. What the hell is going on?

It was already afternoon, and classes at the academy have already began.

Miya's class seemed to be normal, all of except Axial who was distraught. No one said a word to her, nor did she want to say a word to anyone. The lecturers didn't bother to get her to actually listen to their lessons. That was, until Miya came in to the class.

"Axial, what're you doing?" Miya asked loudly on purpose. Axial took a glance at her before turning away. It annoyed Miya. It really did.

"I said, **what're you doing**?" she repeated herself as she approached her little sister.

Again, Axial didn't respond. Ignorance seemed to be her bliss of the day.

Then again, since when has ignorance ever been bliss?

Miya grabbed her by the collar of her uniform and pulled her little sister closer. "Are you sure you don't want to answer?"

Axial glared at Miya with eyes of rage, yet sorrow. The flames within her eyes weren't enough to evaporate her tears, it seems.

She asked her sister, slowly, "Where is he?"

Miya loosened her grip on the dancer. "Who?"

"Zero-kun,"

"Well, he's not here,"

"You think I don't know that?"

"Axial, behave yourself!"

"Then answer my question,"

They were having the conversation as if the students around them never exist. Where one would actually freak out, having about 30 pairs of eyes looking at them, those two didn't.

"I don't know," Miya answered reluctantly before returning to the front of the class.

"He didn't tell you?"

"What makes you think he'll tell me?"

"You **are **his lecturer, after all,"

"Doesn't mean I get to know everything,"

"I haven't even add the fact that you two are close,"

and Miya had nothing else to say.

"Am I wrong? Please say so,"

Miya turned around. Sparkles were in her eyes. No, not those electric sparks, the sparkles of tears.

"It's not like I want my best artist in the class to go,"

"Then why didn't you stop him?"

"Because I didn't know he would leave!"

And the students were still, surprisingly, silent.

"You didn't or you don't?"

"Both,"

Axial began to doubt her sister's words, but it was really against her second-nature because she has been brought up not to doubt her family's words. But this was just too far, far enough to make her go against herself.

The dancer stood up boldly. Miya immediately signalled her to sit down, but she didn't. Instead she walked towards the entrance of the class, to be blocked by her sister.

"Move,"

"Not until class is over,"

"Don't make me,"

"You won't,"

"I will now,"

"Damn right you will,"

The silver-blue-haired dancer immediately took a knife from a small pouch hidden under her shirt. The whole class gasped.

"What do you plan to do?"

"To make you stand aside,"

"You're taking this too far, Axial!"

"**You're** taking this too far, Onee-san!"

Despite how close the knife was to Miya, and how nervous she was, she didn't even budge. Axial held the knife up and got ready to land it onto her very own sister – her sister of a different blood.

Miya braced herself. It was so scary, even though she knew Axial won't do it. She didn't have the guts to slash her own sister… but being so accustomed to being "sisters", she didn't recall the fact that Axial was adopted, not born.

The dancer withdrew her knife and returned back to her seat, and left a sweaty Miya opening her eyes, slowly, to breathe in some air of relieve before finishing up the remaining minutes of the lesson, having the rest being wasted by a lovely drama.

Class was up. The doors open and the wave of bards and dancers just poured out without delay. Axial was already at home, reading the note that she missed in the morning. When she was done, she loosened her grip on the paper, and it dropped onto the ground. Without even bothering the pitiful piece of paper, she went up the stairs and back into her room. What followed, were her loud cries.

A small gust of wind that came from the nearby partially opened window flipped the paper over, and the words were visible.

_Axi,_

_I'm sorry that I didn't let you know earlier, but I believe by the time you read this, you would've probably found this out by then. _

_Anyway, I'm going to keep this simple._

_I am leaving Comodo, to where I won't be telling you. We probably won't ever meet again, but that will be decided by our great Lord Odin. Please, move on and leave me behind – just as I am trying my best to do the same thing. _

_Live, and be the best dancer that Comodo will always be proud of… that I will always be proud of. I pray for your safety and that you'll make the right decisions._

_Sayonara, Axial Cresentfall._

_Zero_

"How could you do this to me, Zero-kun? **HOW COULD YOU!**" the crying dancer began bashing up her own bed so hard, her fists were bleeding from it. The bed had holes all over it, and when she finally stopped, she took out her knife and outstretched her hand, holding the knife with its blade pointing at herself. She closed her eyes, and her brains began sending the signals to her hands to stab herself, but before she did so, Melissa – for some reason – barged in and held her down.

After trying to calm her little sister down, she immediately hit the dancer's head with her bare hands, and she fainted.

"Thank God I learnt how to knock someone out properly,"


	6. Chapter 1 Part 4

_Chapter 1-4: A new student._

Footsteps echoed through the silent area as a few people were running towards a house. They barged in, and woke up a sleeping priest.

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. We'll have to ask Miya if anything happened in school," Melissa answered calmly.

"Then, where's Miya?" the sage inquired.

Melissa shrugged.

"Haven't you mailed her yet?" he added.

"I did. I even went to the academy, but she disappeared," she replied.

"Damn it," Sam cursed before he stomped up the stairs. He knocked on Axial's room.

"Open up!"

No response. He knocked harder.

"I said open up!"

He lost his patience and twisted the knob. It wasn't locked… he quickly went into her room. No one was inside.

"Melissa!" he shouted out with anger. "You said she's here!"

"She **is** there!" she said as she came up the stairs. When she arrived in the room, her mouth was agape.

The whole room was a mess. Papers and clothes were thrown everywhere; her bed… her bed was cut into pieces. The window was open as a short breeze entered the room.

"She went out through the window?" she whispered.

Sam walked towards the window and looked out from there. No silhouettes were even in view. So, obviously, she ran away quite some time ago.

"Jeez… Where's everyone when we need them?" he asked himself within his mind.

He turned around and began to walk out of the room.

"What do you plan to do?" Melissa asked him.

"Isn't it obvious?" he stated as he went down the stairs.

"Damn it, where the hell did she go?" Vincent groaned as he went through some thick bushes.

"This is going to kill me," he said before he finally ended up at a clear path.

When he was about to give up and return home, he heard some noise – it was from a bush. Someone… no, something's got to be nearby!

Without delay, he headed towards the direction of the noise. He continued wandering towards it; the noise didn't grow fainter nor did it grow louder. It was always at a constant volume, and was always from a single direction.

After minutes that seemed like hours, he emerged out from the natural maze and onto a cliff. At the edge was a person. A long, silver-blue-haired person… Axial.

"Hey, Axial!" he called out, waving his hand towards her.

She turned around, and took a step backwards. Backwards, as in even closer to the edge.

"Oi, be careful!" He warned as he walked to her at an even greater pace.

She held both of her hands at her chest and closed her eyes. She shook her head before she turned around.

What the hell is she trying to do? The worried bard took out an arrow from his quiver and tied a rope around it. He then approached the nearest tree and tied the robe around it and made a dead knot. From there he ran towards Axial – who then leaned forward and dropped down from the cliff.

As soon as he saw her did it, he ran even faster and immediately dived down, falling right behind her. He held his hands close and straightened his posture so that he would fall faster.

When he was within reach, he outstretched his hand and caught hold of her leg – and a split second later, they stopped dropping. The rope was extended to its fullest.

The dancer kept on struggling, hoping that Vincent would let go of her. Well, he did – and she landed softly on the sandy beach, which was only about 2 meters below their position compared to the edge of the cliff. He then pulled himself up and cut the ropes apart using a switchblade that he hid within his loose clothing. From there, he landed safely on the beach – on his legs.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he shouted at her, which seemed like he was scolding her. After he calmed down and approached her, he saw her crying.

He backed off a few steps away, feeling guilty because he thought he made her cry. He went closer to her and crouched down.

"Um…" he hesitated. His mind became blank the moment he wanted to comfort her. "Chill, okay?" he then patted her back. She immediately pulled herself closer to his chest, crying over it.

"Ah, there goes my clothes…" he thought as he stroked her head gently, allowing her to cry her hearts out.

"**Miya**!" Sam's voice travelled throughout the whole academy. Melissa was behind him, staring at him.

"It was obvious to what someone would normally do, but it is never obvious to what **you **will do," she remarked, probably to herself.

A dancer suddenly landed from the level above. She stood straight up, and looked at Sam in the eye.

"Yes, Dad?"

"What the hell happened to Axial?" he asked.

"She was angry,"

"About what?"

"She was… well, she IS angry at me,"

"What did you do?"

"I didn't tell her earlier that Zero was leaving,"

Sam stopped asking questions. He was thinking about the answers that Miya just provided him.

While he was thinking, though, Melissa approached her and whispered to her, "Where were you before this?"

"Out,"

"**Where**?"

"It's none of your business," she replied sternly, and Sam budged in.

"So, she's freaking out because Zero isn't here anymore?"

Miya nodded.

"Ok, that's dumb,"

Miya glared at him. "In what way is that dumb?"

"To cry over spilt milk,"

"Dad, you really don't get it, do you?"

Sam crossed his arms. He scratched his chin for a short while, and then began leaving the academy.

"What're you going to do?" Melissa inquired.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"It **isn't**!" she hissed at him before following closely behind him.

"Are you okay now?" Vincent asked Axial politely.

She merely smiled at him.

Vincent sighed. "Why the hell did you even bother to jump down from that cliff?"

Axial looked away.

The bard scratched his head. "I'll take that as a 'I don't want to tell you',"

The dancer gave him a brief hug, which made the bard blush. She then stood up and began walking towards the sea, which worried Vincent again.

"Hey, don't go killing yourself again!"

She turned around and gave him a smile before she ran towards the ocean.

"Hey!" Vincent then gave chase. They kept on going on and on until the water level was just below their chest.

"Damn it Axial, it's not funny anymore!" Vincent groaned, but immediately after that, the dancer turned around and splashed water at him.

"**Noo**!" he raised his voice at her, but she just continued splashing water at him. He was finally losing his patience.

"Fine!" He then took as much water as he could and flung all of them towards the dancer. Well, at least he tried to – but the water flew everywhere **except** in the direction of the dancer.

She giggled silently before she approached him slowly.

"Oh no you don't," the annoyed bard said out loud before he began to back away from her.

She smirked slyly at him, which made him yelp "No!" before he turned around and began running back towards dry land. The dancer just followed slowly.

When both of them reached the dry land, Vincent took of his shirt and his cape. "Jeez… they're ruined! All ruined!"

The dancer stood beside him and patted his back. He gave a mean stare at her, which frightened her for a bit.

Vincent sighed. "I'll let you go, but only this time, you hear me!" he told her… more like, he warned her before he started returning back to his home. "It really **was** useless following you, after all…" he said to himself as he walked slowly.

The dancer merely gazed at him.

The bard turned around. "Oh yeah, you heard about the new transfer student?" he questioned her.

She shook her head.

"Well, attend class tomorrow and you'll see,"

She nodded and waved towards him.

He returned by waving back at her before he continued returning back to his house.

The dancer, too, decided to return back to her home. But, she knew very it won't be lots of warm welcomes.

At home, everyone was busy having dinner.

Rachael returned from her meeting with her friends, Natsumi brought her boyfriend back as usual; Aya was just her usual self – hyper active and all. Miya was silent and barely took a scoop of her food, which Sam noticed clearly.

An empty seat was beside Miya. The warm food and dishes made for Axial were already served on the table and it will remain there until she returns to eat it. If she doesn't eat it when she returns, everyone will force her to – that's what used to happen when she was younger.

"What's wrong?" Rachael asked.

"Nothing,"

"But Miya dear, you barely took a bite," she stated as she pointed at her food.

"I'm not hungry,"

"Face it – You're **always** hungry," Sam remarked.

She rolled her eyes.

An awkward silence crept in. Only the sounds of their cutleries coming in contact with their plates and bowls could be heard. The slurping of their water followed when they were done with their meals.

Out of the blue, the sound of a key being inserted into the keyhole of a door was made. Everyone turned their attention to the front door. The knob twisted, and a silver-blue-haired dancer entered.

She took a glance of everything… everyone around her before she closed the door and locked it. She moved to the dining table and sat at the only seat available – her seat, located right beside Miya.

"Where have you been, Axi dear?" Rachael asked.

Axial simply smiled at her.

"Have you found someone else?" Ayla asked slyly. Axial glared furiously at her.

"Just kidding. I thought you went to have fun with your brand new special someone," she said sarcastically before she took in the last spoonful of her food.

Natsumi was too busy feeding Kazuya to even bother about Axial. The crusader, however, tried to make Natsumi say something comforting to her very own sister but he failed miserably as she took complete control over the situation between both of them.

"Sorry," Miya whispered timidly to Axial.

She looked at Miya, her face expressed nothing.

"Don't you want to eat?" Sam asked grimly.

Axial didn't respond. She just gazed at her food.

"It's either a yes, or a no," he added.

A grim expression implanted itself onto Axial's face.

"Well?"

She shook her head.

"Was that a yes?"

She shook her head again.

"Come on, it's not like you lost your voice!"

She was taken aback, but remained silent.

"That's enough, dear! She shook her head, which means she doesn't want to have her meal," Rachael suddenly interrupted and told Sam right in his face. She then turned towards Axial. "Don't worry, you're excused for today," she assured Axial with a smile. The silver-blue-haired dancer stood up and bowed towards everyone before she went up the stairs.

"Don't you think she's rather quiet now?" Sam remarked.

"Who?" Natsumi asked her father.

"Axial," Kazuya whispered faintly into her ear.

"Oh," she then withdrew from the conversation. After all, she didn't even notice her sister who came, sat down, stood up and went up the stairs.

In Axial's room, she noticed that every thing was repaired and rearranged neatly. She couldn't be more grateful… she jumped onto her new bed – and found out the wood was actually steel in disguised. Ugh, she resisted the pain without making any single noise at all.

She went to her documents that were arranged neatly on the table. One of them was actually a note. Great, another one. She sighed before she began reading it.

_Axial,_

_I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner about Zero leaving. I thought you would've known earlier because I did him a favour and left his note on the table this morning. Unfortunately, he made me swear and promise that I won't reveal his location to you, so I have no choice but to do so._

_I don't think you've heard about it, but there's a new student transferring over directly from the archer's village in Payon. He will be introduced to the class tomorrow, but there's something about him that I think you should know before hand…_

She continued reading until the last sentence and then turned it into a paper ball, and threw it into the trash can.

She turned off the lights, and went straight to bed.

And a night has passed, just like that.

Axial was already wide awake. She had already worn the standardized uniform of the Bards and Dancers Academy of Comodo and had already packed her bags – which was only a few small note books along with her pencil case.

Today, she was really into going to the academy. She was looking forward to something, since she actually skipped breakfast so that she would have enough time to take a slow walk towards her destination.

As she slowly took her small steps, one at a time, she observed all the bards who were entering the academy. She couldn't find someone, but she didn't panic at all. Well, that person is going to be transferring into **her **class, after all, so she's **bound** to meet him.

"Axial!" A feminine voice called out to her. She turned around and smiled.

It was her close friend, Rins. Short, grin hair that was slightly above shoulder-length with lovely amethyst eyes. Pale, perfect skin complexion, great body figure but short. That was her only "disadvantage" – she always have to look up to people because they're always taller than her. However, her dance is fabulous as she got the 3rd place in the class.

"Daijoubu-kah?" She asked her. Axial nodded. Daijoubu-kah means "Are you okay?"

"Ah, that's great," she added. "You've heard about the new student, right?" she questioned her again.

Axial nodded again, of course.

"Man, I can't wait to meet him!" she said enthusiastically with a large grin. Axial merely scratched her head as both of them entered their classrooms and went to their own respective seats.

Shortly after, the bells rang loudly and everyone was seated. The noise died down, and Miya entered the class.

"Good morning, everyone!"

"Good morning, Miss Miya!"

She smiled happily, but it faded after her eyes came in contact with Axial's. She cleared her throat before she continued. "As most of you know, today someone new is transferring in directly from the Payon Archer Village. Are you guys excited?"

The whole class cheered and applauded.

"Okay, let's have a warm welcome for"

The class started hitting their laps, imitating the drum roll effect.

"Keiro Lunafang!" and everyone began applauding. When the new student stepped in, the applause died down in an instant and everyone gasped.

"Hey, isn't that Zero?" One of them said out loud.

Axial had already seen it coming, as she recalled the last sentence that her sister wrote in the note.

_… He looks exactly like Zero. I don't know if Zero has planned this, but even if he does look like Zero, I'm pretty much sure you know that no one is exactly alike. Please… be careful.._

She took out her personal notebook and, with her left hand and a pencil, wrote down his name, just in-case she forgets how to spell his name.

At the same time, as she wrote down his name, a small blue mark began glowing faintly on her upper left arm. But, why is it that no one notices it?


	7. Chapter 1 Part 5

_Chapter 1-5: Keiro._

"You may have a seat, Keiro," Miya told him as she pointed at the empty seat beside Axial. That was where Zero used to seat, but it didn't bother her little sister.

The… so-called-clone did so timidly. All eyes were on him, and he was sweating like a melting ice.

"Okay, we shall continue the lesson. Keiro, get to know your classmates, and you guys. **Don't** be yourself just for today," she said sternly before she took out her white chalk and began writing on the board.

The boy seemed to be lost. He brought only his pencil case and nothing else. He just looked at what Miya was writing while everyone else was taking them down. Apparently, Miya was writing notes on the board.

When he turned to his left, he was surprised to find a book floating right in front of him. Well, he thought so, before he noticed the dancer who was holding the book.

He gazed at her expressionless, not knowing what to do.

She just smiled, leaned further over and placed the book on his table. She quickly resumed her notes after that.

The bard opened his pencil case and took out a Payon traditional ink pen. He opened the book, and saw a small, separate piece of paper with words on them. He examined the paper, held it closer and read it.

_I'm Axial, nice to meet you. Let's get in touch later, okay?_

_Oh, and please don't even try to return me a favour just because I gave you a book._

The note was ended with a smiling face drawn at the bottom. Keiro shook his head and crushed the paper, before he finally began copying the notes. Axial noticed and her heart smiled.

The bell rang once again. It was afternoon… about 5 past 3.

Axial was sitting on one of the benches outside the academy, patiently waiting. Her eyes weren't, though – as she screened through every single bard looking for Zero… more like, Keiro.

A few minutes later, she gave up and just waited. She went over her notes, brushed her hair with the compact brush she had, even tried multiple ways of tying her hair up. In the end, she decided to let her hair down anyway. And, after all that, Keiro still hasn't arrived. She was probably the only person left outside the academy, sitting on the bench.

"He is **so** much more different than Zero when it comes to punctuality," her mind commented as she stood up with her things. She turned towards the gate, and a lone bard was walking slowly out of the academy. **Finally**.

She waved her hand at him. He saw her, but didn't increase his pace. In fact he maintained it and added a faint smile on his face, as if he wasn't that happy to see her. But she pushed all of these aside. She wants to take this slowly, and hopefully – everything will be better again.

"What took you so long?" she asked the bard.

He blushed the very moment he heard her voice.

"Well?"

"I… uh, got lost," he answered timidly. The dancer giggled and began pulling him towards a destination.

"W-What're you doing?" he asked nervously.

"Bringing you to the beach,"

"I don't want to go to the beach,"

"Don't worry," she said as she smiled at him. "Just to let you know, **everyone** gets lost at the academy on their first day, so don't be ashamed,"

"O…Oh…" he replied slowly.

"Daijoubu-kah? Transferring right from the Payon Archer's Village to this place," she questioned him. "Not many people get to do this," she added. Daijoubu-kah means Are you okay? or How are you?

"Daijoubu desu," he answered, and right after that both of them arrived at the beach.

Daijoubu desu means I'm fine.

"Ah, here it is," Axial said out loud.

She jumped down from the low ledge and ran onto the sandy beach. After turning around, she signalled him to come down, but he backed off.

"Come on!" she exclaimed and grinned.

He shook his head and took another step backwards.

She returned back and jumped up, landing on the ledge again. It surprised Keiro, though.

"H-How did you jump up so high?" He questioned her hesitantly.

"Oh, this?" she said as she turned back. "This isn't high at all. Many people in the academy can jump up from there, especially dancers,"

"S…souka…" he replied. Souka means I see…

Axial ran behind him and began pushing him. "Come on, this is simple compared to what my sister will force us to do!" she told him as she kept on pushing him closer and closer to the ledge.

Keiro remained silent.

When they were on the ledge, Axial jumped down first. "Okay, your turn," she said as she held her hands out.

The bard sat on the ledge. From there he slid himself down and grabbed hold of her outstretched hand – which she used to keep him on his feet.

"No fair, you **slid** down instead," she remarked. Keiro just scratched his head.

The dancer went to further down the beach and sat on the warm sand. Keiro followed slowly, and as he sat, he asked: "Who's your sister?"

"Our teacher,"

"**What**?"

"Shh, your voice was very loud," she said. "Yes, Miya onee-san is my sister,"

"I… see," the bard then gazed up at the sky.

"Do you have any relatives here?"

Keiro then looked down on the beach. He closed his eyes. Axial was waiting for her answer, but she already got them when she saw a single tear making its way out of his eyes.

"H-Hey!" She went closer to him. "What's wrong? Did I say something I shouldn't have said?"

The bard shook his head. "All my relatives…" was all he could say before he began sobbing.

Axial's mouth was wide agape. It can't be.

"All of them left,"

"L…Left?"

He wiped away his tears and nodded.

"Gomen," she apologized and patted his back. "Then where will you be staying here?"

"The Payon officials were kind enough to provide me with the living necessities over here in Comodo, so I'm alright," he relieved Axial on his current status. "But, its lonely… you know?"

"Don't worry," she said.

Keiro looked at her with his eyes wide opened.

"I'll always be here… zutto," she told him, and then gazed at the ocean again. Zutto translates to Always

At that very moment, the rays of light pierced through the dark clouds.

The dancer reacted with a "Huh?" as she covered her eyes. Slowly more and more light began to shine on Comodo.

"Hmm… the Sun," Keiro said monotonously.

"Yeah, it's just the sun… but, it has been years since I've seen it," Axial told him. "Things are going to be a bit sticky now,"

"Why?"

"Because the villagers are going to begin investigating on whether is this suppose to bring forth fortune or demise,"

"…"

"But, it's beautiful, isn't it?" She looked up at the bright sky, where the sun was proudly showering everyone with its ray of light.

"As beautiful as it is," Keiro said and began to think of how it was back in Payon. "It has also caused a lot of suffering,"

"Everything makes something suffer," she followed up his sentence without delay. "Remember that,"

"Does that mean I'll make you suffer?"

"That doesn't mean I won't make you suffer, too,"

"You're weird, you know,"

The dancer closed her eyes, and then looked at him. "Yeah, I know…" she said proudly.

She then stood up. Keiro, being the curious innocent bard he is right now, asked "What're you going to do now?"

"Going home. I have some… things to do," she told him before she turned around and began walking back to her house.

"Can I follow you?"

She turned her head around. "Doushite?" Doushite means Why?

"Um… I have lots of spare time," he answered while scratching his head.

Axial sighed. "Fine,"

Keiro stood up and followed closely behind her.

As they made their way towards Axial's house, they passed by a cliff… the cliff that she jumped down from. She paused and looked at it blankly.

"Now that I think about it, unless I land head first, I probably won't die from that fall anyway," her mind said.

"Axial?" And she was successfully pulled back from her thoughts. "Something wrong?" he added.

"Uh… not really," she told him, still gazing at the cliff. "Let's continue,"

"Okay,"

They both followed up a narrow, straightforward passage that eventually led to a house.

"Here?" he said out loud.

The silver-haired dancer nodded.

"Nice…" he commented, and noticed that the dancer was looking at him. Their eyes met, but the eye contact was broke off when Keiro 'accidentally' mumbled out "What?"

She had a really faint smile before she took out her keys and slotted one of them into the keyhole of the door.

"Axial, can I"

"Please, call me Axi,"

Keiro blinked his eyes. "O-okay then, Axi. What's the colour of your eyes?"

She looked at him.

"No offence, but grey eyes?" he asked.

Axial remained speechless. She opened the door and went in.

Inside, she found Ayla's eyes looking at her with wonder. She glared sternly at her as she walked in. She turned around, and invited Keiro in.

"Oh, Zero!" Ayla called out.

Keiro simply looked at her. "Who?"

"I thought you left? This poor girl…" she stopped when she noticed Axial still glaring sternly at her. "Well, this poor girl thought you left too,"

"Ayla onee-sama, he isn't Zero,"

"LIES!"

"Ano…" Keiro interrupted. "My name is Keiro," Ano basically means something like Um…

"No way!"

"Yes way,"

Ayla rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. Gang up on me, huh? I'll show you, one day. I WILL!" she cursed and continued to do whatever she was doing.

"But…"

"Enough," Axial cut in. "Let's go upstairs, okay?"

And immediately, a "WoooOoOo" came from Ayla.

"If you disturb us," Axial said as she turned around. "I WILL kill you,"

"Hey, hey, don't be grumpy! I'm just…" she stopped talking when she saw Axial held out her whip that has been hidden under her clothes, wrapped at her waist all these time.

"Okay. Have fun,"

The two then went up the stairs.

"Uh oh," Ayla said out loud to herself.

"Sorry about that," Axial told hem as she made a cup of tea. "Do you want one?"

"No thanks," he said. She placed the cup of tea on a saucer and sat on the only chair in the room.

"Have a seat," she told him.

"Where?" he asked while he scratched his cheek.

"Anywhere you like. Even the bed, if you want to,"

He looked around the average-sized room. He made a decision – to sit beside her. So, on the floor he sat. Right beside her, too.

A really uncomfortable silence followed. The only sound present was the sipping of tea, and that didn't make any of them feel better at all.

"Who's Zero?" Keiro suddenly ended that silence.

Axial immediately took another sip of her cup of tea.

"Please?"

"Well, aren't you a gentleman," she remarked and placed her cup on her table.

"Zero is someone who looks exactly like you,"

"E-exactly like… **ME**?" He said in a raised tone while pointing at his own face.

She nodded.

"Impossible!" he exclaimed. "That can **not** be possible! Tell me! **Tell me** it **isn't** possible!"

"Don't make me punch you,"

"Sorry,"

She sighed. Her mind was fretting up itself. Not that a day together with the new student who looks like Zero, in **her house **too, would ease her up a bit. The fact that Ayla is home today makes me raged.

But, enough about that.

"It's true, but I don't know how,"

"That's bad,"

"Yeah,"

Keiro then scratched his chin. He was sorting out all the things that have just entered his ocean of memories.

"He's a nice guy though,"

Keiro had nothing to say. "Is he… gone?"

Axial closed her eyes. "He left,"

Keiro didn't bother to go deeper into the subject, but there was one thing he was really curious about – her eyes. Not just her eyes, her **grey** eyes.

"Did he take away the colour of your eyes at the same time?"

"I don't know,"

"How long has it been since you've the colour of your eyes?"

"I… really don't know,"

"Do you even know the colour of your eyes?"

"Can you stop asking me about my eyes?" She raised her voice at him.

"Okay, I'm sorry,"

The dancer sighed.

_How did I lose the colour of my eyes? I didn't even know my eyes were supposed to have colours! And this hair… sometimes I just wish I could've dyed my hair some common colour so that I can be… more normal._

"Axial?"

"Uh…? Yes?"

"You day dream a lot, don't you?"

"I don't!" she said as she shook her head hard, blushing ever so slightly.

The boy laughed. She stared at him, only praying to Lord Odin that he'd stop.

From below, the door of the house opened and closed. Hmm, someone returned.

"You seem to have a large family,"

"Yeah…" she agreed, but after that she murmured softly, "And to think we aren't related by blood,"

"What did you say?"

"Did I say anything?"

From below, a very familiar voice called out, "Axial!"

"Oh, Miss Miya is back?"

The silver-blue-haired dancer stood up and went out of her room. "Yes, Onee-san?"

"Come down for a minute," Miya requested.

Axial turned towards Keiro. "You want to stay up here?"

"I think I'll just follow you down. Besides, I might need to look around Comodo for a bit,"

Both of them came down from the stairs. Miya came out from the kitchen, and was wondering why Keiro was standing beside Axial.

"Is he real?"

"DUH!" Axial hissed at her.

"Okay, my apologies," Miya said while bowing slightly.

"So, why did you ask me to come down?"

"It's some private issues," Miya told her sister, but diverted her eyes onto Keiro.

He noticed, and immediately informed her that he was about to leave anyway. Axial did the honour of opening the door for him, and he left – waving his hands towards the dancer.


	8. Chapter 1 Part 6

_Chapter 1-6: From hero to Zero to Keiro._

"Okay, so what is it?" Axial demanded an answer. She seemed frustrated and annoyed.

"Shh, keep your voice down," Miya reminded her.

"Onee-san, I don't think anyone would be eavesdropping on our conversation,"

"We can't take that risk anyway," Miya informed her reluctantly.

Axial sighed. "So, just **what is it**?"

"Has Zero every told you about his family?"

"Nope,"

"Then I believe you went to his house before. Am I right?"

Axial nodded.

"Was he the only person living there?"

"It seemed so,"

"Hmm…"

"What do those questions have to do with anything?"

"Zero might have a twin brother,"

"Oh, so now you plan to assume?"

"What if he doesn't know that he has a twin brother?"

"How did you come to this?"

"Because Zero doesn't exactly have a last name – or a family name, as some would like to call it,"

"You mean like ours – Cresentfall?"

"Exactly,"

Axial was speechless. In fact she didn't care about the conversation anymore. How can that be useful anyway? Asking her questions about her first close friend… her **only** close friend.

"Doesn't that make you curious?"

"I prefer not to doubt my friends,"

"Your friends?"

"Of course,"

"You'd rather doubt your family then?"

"In some situations,"

"And you actually dare to say that in front of one of your family members?"

"You guys already taught me not to lie to you, and so I won't,"

Miya felt furious, but Axial was speaking the truth anyway. She kept her cool and continued.

"Maybe we should ask Keiro about this…"

"Don't,"

"Why not?"

Axial paused for a moment, as she went through what Keiro just told her not long ago.

"_Do you have any relatives here?"_

"_All my relatives…"_

"_All of them left,"_

"Because… they left,"

"Not surprising,"

"Not surprising? It's **not** surprising?"

"Well, to be transferred from-"

"Ok, I know you want to find Zero badly. I do too, but you're taking this too far," She interrupted Miya.

"In what way am I taking this too far?"

"Involving me!"

"And here you're complaining about something I plan to give you ever since you've been complaining about not receiving it from me since you were young,"

"What?"

"Don't you remember? When you were young, you always, **always** curse us for leaving you out of our activities and now when I plan to involve you, you curse me **again**!"

"Because these kind of… so-called "activities" are meaningless!"

"I'm trying to help you look for your close friend!"

"And I'm trying to let him go!"

Miya zipped her mouth.

"Why can't you see that?"

Miya diverted her eyes to the side. She didn't want to look at Axial anymore.

"Please…" The silver-blue-haired dancer said, suddenly between her sobs. "I don't want to think of Zero already,"

She went back up the stairs, back into her room.

"Hmm," leaked out from Miyas mouth before she returned back into the kitchen to fix something for herself.

"Honey, don't you think we should return home soon?"

"Nah, dear. I'm sure they'll be fine on their on,"

"But don't you think that letter Miya dear sent us is a bit disturbing?"

"What, a complete clone of Zero?"

"Look-wise,"

Sam let out a deep sigh. "Even if we do return, what will we be able to do?"

"We can at least give her advice," Rachael suggested. "I'm sure she needs guidance right now," the priest added.

"She's 17… she'll manage," Sam assured her calmly and then resumed his work.

It was already night time, and the silver-blue-haired dancer was still in her room.

She was lying down on her bed, resting. Well, she looked like she was resting, but actually she was deep in her thoughts.

"_Maybe we should ask Keiro about this..."_

"_Did he take away the colour of your eyes at the same time?"_

"_Why do you want to see her?"_

"_I have some questions I would like to ask…"_

"… _Sayonara, Axial Cresentfall."_

She turned herself to the side.

"_All of my relatives… all of them left,"_

She cuddled herself closer. "Why must all of these happen to me…"

Immediately after that, she jumped out of the bed and had a grim look on her face. She rushed towards the window, opened it and leaped straight down from it, running towards the beach.

"This force…" she mentioned within herself as she made her way towards the source of the powerful energy. She was heading towards the academy!

""Hey, Ayla," said Miya.

"What?" was her reluctant reply as she continued to comb her hair.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"I thought I just heard someone's footsteps…"

"Why're you asking me? Go ask Natty or something,"

"She isn't here," Miya said while glaring at her sister.

"Oh," Ayla directed her eyes away and pretend that nothing happened.

Miya sighed and went up the stairs. She knocked on Axial's door, but there was no response.

"It's me, Axial," she said before she knocked a few more times. "Let's talk," she added.

But there was still no response. She tried to twist the knob, but it was lock. "Let me in!" she raised her voice at the door.

And yet, she still didn't receive her response.

"For Odin's sakes," she cursed to herself before she went all the way downstairs to get the key and went back up again. She slotted the key in, twisted and unlocked the door. She pulled the key out, and went into Axial's room.

"Oh come on!" she exclaimed before she ran towards the window.

"From what you just shouted out, I'll assume that Axi ran away," A rather familiar voice told Miya. The snow-white-haired dancer turned around. It was Natsumi.

"Took you long enough to return home,"

"It's not like Melissa is better than me,"

"Her job is different,"

"What does this have to do with Axial?"

Miya stopped and pointed at the window. Natsumi walked towards it. She looked outside, and saw footprints. She showed them to Miya, who then leaped out of the window.

"I'll leave it to you," Natsumi let Miya know before she went down the stairs.

Miya then followed the footprints – which led her to the academy.

"We seriously need to remove the window," she told herself before she focused all her concentration into following the path and – hopefully – reaching Axial in time before something happens again.

Meanwhile, at the academy itself…

"Everyone, get away from the academy, **now**!" Exclaimed a priest who pointed away from the large building. Many bards and dancers were running around with panic, while a few villagers were gathering, wondering what was happening.

"**I said get away from the academy**!" The priest raised his voice. "Get back to your home or something! It's dangerous!"

"What's going on?" asked a feminine voice.

"Oh, God Poing. Melissa, something's inside the academy," he said before he turned towards it. "And, no one knows just **what** kind of monster would attack now, and cause such a ruckus!"

Melissa took a look around herself. She discerned through all the figures running around, and someone caught her eyes. "Miya!" she called out.

The exhausted dancer came running towards her.

"What… the hell… is going… on?" she asked loudly between her deep gasps of air.

"Something has invaded the academy," Melissa calmly told her sister.

"The academy?" the dancer reacted with surprise.

"We aren't sure what is it, but…"

"The students! Are they all out of the building?"

"We evacuated many students from the building. Even so, we can't be sure that everyone has escaped, but we can't be sure that everyone hasn't escaped either," he answered. "With that kind of a blast, I think it's obvious they'd react,"

"A blast?"

Both the priest and priestess nodded at the same time.

"Then… have you seen Axial?"

"Axi? Isn't she at home?"

"She ran away from home," Miya replied. "I followed the footsteps, but eventually it disappeared, and there was a commotion here,"

"So you immediately made this your next destination," Melissa said hastily, yet grimly. She began to scratch her chin, as she slowly recalled the ancient history of the ancestors of Gaia.

_That mark…_ she thought to her self. But she shook her head. "Quickly, find her!"

"I was planning to do that," Miya said out loud. She took a few steps towards the academy, but returned towards Melissa. "Where the hell should I search?"

"Over there," Melissa pointed at the academy. Miya gawked at Melissa.

"You want me to go closer towards the source of the problem?"

"That's where Axial is probably headed,"

"How would you know!"

"Trust me!" Melissa said before she faced the priest. "Father, please gather all the priests and escort all the villagers to their home, before –"

An explosion erupted from the building. An ear-piercing, monstrous roar echoed throughout the whole village as a gigantic, vicious, furry monster stuck itself out of the whole building.

"**What the hell IS THAT THING?**" And to think Miya was the one who said that.


	9. End of Chapter 1

_Chapter 1-7: Axial._

The whole area began to shake furiously. The tremendous force caused by that **gigantic** monster was too much – many people lost their balances and fell down, while items and stuff in houses began to drop from the shelves and tables.

The leaves were coming in contact with each other as the impact shook them around. The water had ripples on them, and eyes were staring at that… that **thing** with fear.

"**WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?**" Miya screamed at the top of her voice. It was the largest monster she ever has ever seen.

"A… chimera," said the priest. "I-I'm going to gather all the priests now!" he said hastily before he rushed his way back to the Priest's Shrine.

"Let's go," suggested Melissa before she pulled Miya back onto her feet.

"Let's go? What the hell do you plan to do?"

"To save our sister,"

"You should be trying to save **us**, not our sister!"

"Fine then. Run for your life, I'm going in no matter what," Melissa insisted before she increased her agility and headed in towards the main entrance that has yet to be destroyed.

"Damn it, this is getting more insane by the minute!" Miya declared to herself before took out her whip that was tightly fitted into a compact pouch, tied to the side of her leg. She then chased after Melissa, praying purely for safety.

"**What**?" Sam exclaimed at the communicator that he was holding.

"Something's happening here, Dad," Ayla told him. "Um… uh…" she stopped there. Suddenly, Natsumi's voice got through the device.

"Axial ran away, and Miya is chasing her," she said.

"That's it, we're coming home,"

"Hurry! The place is shaking pretty badly. Like there's an earthquake," Natsumi described to Sam.

"An earthquake? At Comodo? Impossible! Comodo is free from all natural disasters except the abnormality of the day and night,"

"That's why you should hurry," Natsumi added before she turned off the device.

"We should get going now," Rachael said grimly before she took in 2 pills.

"You should stay," Sam suggested.

"**No!**" she exclaimed at him. "I am going with you, no matter what," she assured herself before she threw a large bag of necessities towards Sam. "Now, let's go,"

She quickly walked out of the door. Sam followed slowly, grumbling all the way.

The beast took its first step out of the school compound, staring blankly at the villagers of Comodo who were returning its stupid gaze.

The serpents, sticking out from its back, were too busy hissing to do anything.

The Chimera was at the garden, right beside the main gate, at the front entrance of the school. No one has been hurt yet, but preparations are being made to ensure the safety of the Comodo, and if possible, of the beast too. But, almost everyone knows that would rather be impossible.

Right away, a silver-blue haired dancer dashed in from the side and observed the large monster.

She began strategizing. "_How can I defeat a monster 10 times bigger than I am?_"

She looked around. The school was practically half-destroyed, crumbles of the building were everywhere, once a while having a large stone popping out of the mess.

As she took in more of her surrounding, she noticed tall poles and pillars. "_That!_" she thought before she ran towards the nearest pillar.

However, the Chimera noticed her quick movement and reacted by swiping its paw at her, destroying the pillar in the process.

The dancer remained still. The Chimera continued to stare at her blankly. After an awkward silence without any movement, it turned away and continued its advance towards the village.

"_When I move, it attacks. When I stand still, it doesn't bother me…?_" she wondered before began following the Chimera closely behind it.

As it began to approach the villagers, they panicked and ran around – If they weren't heading back to their home, they were probably seeking a place called "Outside Comodo" to hide themselves in.

The Chimera seemed agitated upon seeing so many movements, and rampaged throughout the village, destroying everything in its path.

Obviously, that was bad news to everyone.

"Everyone, **don't move**!" she shouted but who the hell would listen to her?

Comodo was beginning to look more like a ruin. Thank God there was no fire… well, yet.

The Chimera opened its mouth wide. From its mouth, a purple ball of flame formed and kept on growing in size.

"_Oh no,_" was the first thing that hit Axial's mind. She tied a Water Arrow to her whip and slung it towards the Chimera, injuring its back.

It let out a loud roar as it faced the sky. The purple fire ball was launched into the sky, without ever returning back.

The dancer let out a sigh of relieve before she scaled one of the tall houses that was still standing. From there, she was standing at eye-level with the Chimera, which turned around in anger – wondering who the hell shot it.

Axial remained still. The Chimera noticed the building, and even her – but didn't react to anything.

She was nervous – and hesitant as well. She was as still as a statue, and completely fooled the beasts' eyes. It turned its field of vision away from her.

And when she thought it was safe enough to attack, the serpents from its back began to dive in for a piece of her meat. She had to roll her way out of safety – from the large building, onto the ground… into the Chimera's vision.

"_Uh-oh,_" and right after that she jumped to leap and instant reaction from the raged beast – an attempt to swipe her away with its paws.

While she was still in mid-air, the serpents dove in for another attack, but she managed to knock them away using her whip, damaging them at the same time.

When she landed on her feet, the serpents began spitting corrosive acid at her. As she tumbled, the acids landed on the ground – creating holes and dents as they turn the soil into – well, basically nothing.

Immediately she started circling the beast, avoiding the acids that she was being spat at and throwing Water Arrows at it whenever possible. But even so, the damage she was doing was merely miniscule and the Chimera felt the annoyance of it rather than the pain. Like, a fly trying land all over you. You won't die from it – you'll feel extremely annoyed. At least, most people would.

She knew she had to change her tactics. She tied another Water Arrow onto her whip but she lost the arrow when she had to take a leap to the side – avoiding the large purple fireball the monster sent at her.

So, another problem rose. Fireballs. As if the rest weren't enough. She tried to tie another Water Arrow but before she could even take out one of the elemental arrows, she had to continue dodging the attacks constantly thrown at her.

Her mind broke the panic barrier. She had no idea what to do. She briefly skimped through all the teachings she learned while she was an amateur dancer…

_In a heated battle, you might not have time to think ahead. When that time comes, think of the primary problem and use the simplest solution to take care of it._

Primary problem… the monster is too large for her, so she needs to shower it with arrows. Now, she can't equip her arrows because of the attacks. How can she obtain the time to equip an arrow?

As she constantly dodged their attacks, and almost got hit by the acid, she saw lots of rocks piled up like a mountain. Cover! She quickly made her way towards it.

The Chimera launched another fireball at her, and she leaped as the force from the explosion pushed her jump even further. She landed and rolled onto safety, behind the pile of large stones.

As the acids were having fun with the large stones, she tied a Water Arrow hastily onto her whip, and side stepped out of the way before another fireball literally turned the stones into a pile of ash.

Great, her first problem is solved… for now. Now, where does she attack?

She knew it would be a problem. She didn't have much time either, even though the crowd has already left, she was losing energy. Her breaths were getting heavier and heavier. Her movements were slowly but constantly slowing down.

She scanned her surroundings once again. What wasn't destroyed? Besides the ground, some trees and that single tall pillar which seemed as tall as the Chimera itself… wait, a tall pillar!

She took a detour and made a windy path towards the large pillar. As she was advancing towards the pillar, her Water Arrow began illuminating a bright aura. Now, for the timing.

Axial began circling the damned beast as she observed its attack pattern. Slowly, it was as if the serpents were getting more accurate by the minute, but she wouldn't have figured out it was her stamina that was letting her down.

Finally, the Chimera swiped its left paw at her. She jumped high into the air, to be greeted by its right paw. But before it landed hard on her with force, she used it as a mid-air platform and pushed herself into safety, back onto the ground. The Chimera fixed its posture and launched another fireball at her while she was still at a safe distance from the pillar – to prevent the explosion from damaging it. So, it was time.

She turned around and dashed at the pillar with all of her remaining energy. As she ran up the pillar, the acids that were following her trail began to corrode the pillar.

Right at the top, the previously large pillar became as skinny as a bamboo. With one final push she somersaulted into the air, and when she was right in front of its face, she threw the Charged Arrow right in its face, and a large explosion followed, which completely swallowed the both the dancer and the beast.

A priest and a silver-haired dancer arrived at the scene.

"**Now what?**" Miya exclaimed at Melissa.

"Calm down,"

"**WHAT?**"

"Don't make me use Lex Divina on you," Melissa said grimly.

Even so, that was enough to act as a natural Lex Divina on Miya.

Suddenly, the cloud of smoke glowed purplish in colour. A Fireball shot out from it, and exploded on the ground. Not that it bothered the two girls… yet.

The smoke cleared and Axial was no where to be seen.

"Miya, take care of that beast, please!" Melissa told her before she ran towards the explosion.

"H-how?" Miya asked but received no reply. She had no idea what to do, even though she was the eldest sister.

"Um… uhh…" She kept on looking around. She needed a clue. A clue to what to do – and how to do it.

Well, she received her clue the moment the Chimera noticed her sister running towards the explosion.

Spontaneously, she tied an Oridecon Arrow to her whip and it began illuminating a bright aura. As soon as the serpents were all focused on Melissa, she aimed and threw the Charged Arrow – not at the Chimera itself, but at the serpents.

In the process, about 3 of them lost their head. So, 3 down, 5 left to go. The agitated Chimera turned its direction towards the silver-haired dancer.

But her body reacted again without her mind. From her compact pouch, she took out a foldable bow and knotted as many arrows as she could on it.

She took aim, and rained a shower of arrows on it.

But even so, it wasn't able to pierce the thick hide of the Chimera. The serpents were agile enough to dodge the arrows.

She quickly knotted another two arrows and shot them towards one of the serpents. It dodged the first arrow, but ended up right in the pathway of the other arrow. It went straight through it, right between its eyes, and was torn off the Chimeras back.

And that was when it was really angry.

Melissa was out of danger then. The exploded subsided a long time ago, and right now the smokescreen it created was only beginning to do the same thing. But, she didn't have the time.

At – what seemed to be a ruin created by a meteor - she saw Axial, unconscious, but seriously burnt and injured.

"_T-Third degree burn!_" her mind thought. She couldn't believe it. Her youngest sister didn't look like her youngest sister at all – it was as if she was a totally different person.

She immediately began following protocol, continuously hoping and praying that her sister survives. She was literally in a blood pool, and as if the burns weren't bad enough, dusts were everywhere and the air was constantly moving.

Melissa tore a piece of cloth from her clothes and wet it with cool water, and laid it lightly on her sister's exposed body. Immediately after that, she held up multiply blue gem stones and began enchanting something. The area around Axial lit up brightly in green, as the blue gem stones disintegrated into thin air and a sanctuary was formed. From there, she focused on healing her whole body.

She then positioned herself near her sister's mouth. She had rapid and shallow breathings. A sign of shock… and it shocked Melissa too.

"_Damn it, I need the priest team, but how can I get them?_" she wondered. Touching Axial now isn't the best option she has, yet it was probably the only option he had.

"_Should I?_"

The roar of the Chimera together with Miya's groan disrupted her thoughts as she turned around.

"**Miya!**" she reacted with an exclamation. Her sister was being crushed in the Chimera's paws.

Miya was screaming. Her bones were starting to give in, and tears escaped through her eyes.

Melissa stood up, shouted "Holy Light!" and a bolt enchanted with holy power was sent towards its paws. They had no effect.

"N-No!" She kept on throwing the Holy Lights at its paws, in hopes that it would at least loosen. But, eventually she gave up, and so did Miya.

"_T-This can't be happening!_" she thought. Was Miya dead, or did she just pass out from the pain? Axial was about to die, probably sooner than Miya unless the damned monster eats her sister up right now.

But numerous footsteps finally got to her, as she turned to notice a large group of warriors. Every single one of them were here to take care of the monster. She thought it would relieve her, but she didn't feel any changes in her at all. That was, until she noticed the team of priests behind the group.

"**Kevin! HELP me!**" She exclaimed as loud as she could. The leader of the priests – who had dark green hair, increased his team's agility and made their way towards her, while the archers, dancers and bards of the group of warriors quickly used their ranged attacks to distract the Chimera.

"What's wrong?"

"I-It's my sister!" she said with panic.

Kevin went towards the pool of blood, and was shocked of what was in front of him.

"Everyone, we have to begin the resurrection process! **ASAP**!"

"Resurrection?" Melissa gasped.

"Melissa, you too!" he ordered before all the priests surrounded Axial. But she didn't dare to approach her sister.

Kevin had nothing to say. He had no choice but to continue without her.

Each and everyone of the priests – whom surrounded Axial - held up a single blue gem stone. They began to read out the verses of a spell, and the blue gem stone began illuminating brightly.

"**MIYA!**" Someone with a familiar voice shouted. Melissa turned around. Natsumi was right beside Miya's body – who was pulled into safety.

A sign of fear completely overwhelmed her. But even she knew she had to do something. She gathered up the remains of herself and hesitantly made her way towards her eldest sister.

"Miya! Wake up! **Wake up**!" Natsumi pleaded with tears, but there was no response.

"What're you doing?" Melissa questioned her sternly and pushed her away.

"What the hell do you mean? I'm trying to wake her up!"

"Get your white potions!"

Natsumi immediately obeyed her instructions and took out as many white potions as she could find within the cart she brought along.

Melissa checked her pulse. It was faint, but the pulse was still there. She touched her ribs and the rest of her body parts to locate obvious bone dislocation.

"_Damn it, if only I studied more about this…_" she cursed within her mind before she held out the very same blue gem stone that the team of priests held out. She, too, began reading out the very same verses… of the very same spell, as her blue gem stone began illuminating brightly too.

Natsumi opened the cap of the potion and poured all over the dancer's body. She couldn't force the liquid down, so it had to be absorbed through the skin.

And, all the while, Ayla was too busy trying to get revenge for the harm that beast caused to her sisters by throwing all of her stashed Acid Bottles at the Chimera. When the Chimera tried to attack her with its melee attacks, and if it was within range, she would mammonite it with the zeny she had been saving up till now.

To many people's surprise though, she probably one of the very people who could actually deal some damage to the monster.

Meanwhile, back at Axial, a few of the priest's blue gem stone had already broke into two. Their spells failed.

"_Just a bit more…_" Kevin's mind thought, as one by one, more and more priest's blue gem stone began to break into two. Everyone's resurrection was failing, and he was the only one left.

"_Almost…!_" He thought again, but right when he closed his eyes, thinking it was done, he was pushed back by a force, and his blue gem stone broke into two. The process failed.

The team of priests were disappointed. They lost a life, and someone isn't going to be very happy about it.

Miya, on the other hand, was guaranteed to be safe from death as Melissa called towards the team of priests as she noticed they had nothing on their hands at that very moment. They rushed towards her, and began treating Miya's wounds.

"How's Axial?" she asked one of them, but didn't get an answer.

"**How's Axial?**" she repeated herself, louder than ever.

Kevin pulled her out of the group, and went close to her ears. A moment passed, and a sign of shock mixed with sorrow was poured onto her face.

He patted her back, as she kneeled down. He would like to spend time to relieve her, but with Miya being the second on the chopping board – although saved by Melissa's Resurrection spell – he had to make sure that she would still be able to live a normal life after this.

Meanwhile, Natsumi was just sitting beside, observing whatever the priests were doing to Miya.

Ayla however was still battling the Chimera. She leaped backwards to dodge a single claw swipe from the Chimera.

Despite being the only female with guts, she was out of breath, and fell onto her knees. She used too much energy while in an adrenaline rush, and couldn't move at all.

The Chimera took this as a golden opportunity and sent a purple fireball towards the emerald-haired alchemist.

"Scatter, everyone!" One of the knights warned, but Ayla was too worn out to do anything. She simply closed her eyes and prepared herself – apologizing to her husband for leaving this world so early.

But from the very moment the Fireball left the Chimera's mouth, suddenly – from the pool of blood, Axial's left arm began illuminating a blue aura. The ancient mark – which was somehow hidden from everyone up till now – stood out and shone brightly.

And Melissa was probably the first person to see that happen.

"_What's going on…?_" her mind thought blankly.

A shadow of Axial rose from the body and – before the Fireball could reach Ayla – warped itself in the Fireball's path. It completely blocked the huge orb of flame and dissolved it so that there would be no explosion.

Ayla slowly opened her eyes, only to wonder why she hasn't felt anything yet. She noticed the blue shadow, hovering in front of her. The hair, the figure… she looked very familiar, but Ayla was too tired to think about it.

Axial's shadow unwrapped its weapon – which looked exactly like a whip, except this time it was made out of short blades and was extremely long – probably at least double the length of normal whips.

Everyone was staring at it. The shadow turned around and saw Melissa staring blankly at it. Deciding that there are matters that need to be taken care of first, she turned back and charged towards the Chimera's face.

It tried to charge another Fireball, but paused when the shadow was right in front of its face. It just opened its mouth, didn't even form anything in it, and the shadow was already in front of its face.

The serpents didn't have enough time to react to its movements that were going at light speed.

The Chimera raised its paws, but even so it was no match for the shadow's speed.

It raised its whip, and then flung it all around the beast's body. It was as if the shadow was doing aerobics, since the whip didn't look like it came in contact with the Chimera's body.

But when it stopped to withdraw its whip, the Chimera was split into a million pieces and those tiny pieces were disintegrated into thin air.

Everyone rejoiced. The Chimera was finally gone. Of course people would rejoice… right?

That was what Melissa obviously thought. But how could she? Her youngest sister… left. Her eldest could've followed her, but thankfully she managed to save her.

Melissa stood up, and looked towards Axial's lifeless body. She shed a single tear – knowing how worthless it is to cry over spilt milk – and turned around, only to be caught off guard by Axial's shadow.

"W-what do you want?" she asked.

The shadow only had visible eyes – and the eyes were clearly of Axial's. Because it was grey in colour, and Axial was the only person who had those eyes.

"A-Axi?" found its way out of Melissa's mouth. The shadow – although only had a pair of eyes – smiled. The eyes were enough to show Melissa that it was smiling.

"Don't go… please!" she begged but the shadow shook its head.

Melissa stared at the ground. The shadow approached her and patted her back, as if assuring her that everything was going to be alright.

"What about Keiro?"

The shadow's eyes opened wider. Tears collected itself within its eyes, but managed to keep itself within. The shadow then walked towards its own corpse.

It turned around, and waved to Melissa. And it was that time that Melissa… no, not just Melissa, everyone related to Axial; Sam, Rachael, even Miya who was unconscious; Including her one and only friend out of the all the classmates she knew, Rins; and finally Keiro… together with his duplicate, Zero… heard her last voice.

That voice, within their minds, said this before the shadow slowly faded away into the air, still gazing at its own corpse…

"Sayonara," Sayonara means Farewell

_The End of Chapter 1._


	10. Chapter 2 Part 1

_Chapter 2-1: The new "Gaia"._

Note: I will be constantly switching between first-person and third-person style of writing, so please bare with me 

If I write in First-person (Using I), then it is, no matter what, in Axial's view.

If I write in Third-person (him, her), normally I use it to refer to something Axial can't see / isn't referring to / isn't doing and the like.

"Ugh…"

As I opened my eyes, I managed to get a good glimpse of my vision. It was very blur.

I blinked my eyes a few more times and started to focus them. Then I got a clear view of the place I was in.

It was a room… a really neat room. I was lying on a snow white bed, wearing very loose and comfortable white garment, and I was tightly tucked into the bed. Then my head hurts. Trying to touch it, I felt some bandages wrapped over my forehead. Wondering what happened, I saw the window right beside me, and took a glance out.

"_What the hell?_" I first thought this was a dream. It was so bright outside – it was as if I was in another place.

"_Is this even Comodo?_" I took as much of the town in as I could. There were buildings that were three-storey high, but were made out of stones. Trees were planted in a systematic way, and there were weird pathways with weird… things constantly running on them to its destination.

As I scrutinized every detail I manage to get, especially those weird things, I noticed that there were humans inside it! What, was it some kind of a new item that is made for our use?

I stared at the ceiling and I was attracted by the bright light. Since when were they so bright?

And then only I observed my room. The walls and the ground were made of rocks, while the ceiling was made of white wood. There were square tables beside me, and flowers on top of them – all bundled up neatly in the most beautiful vase I've ever seen.

There were papers stuck to the flowers, and it kept me thinking, "_What are those?_"

I laid down on the soft bed, enjoying the comfort. I held up my hand, and stared at my palm.

"_Wasn't I… burnt to death?_"

Right after that thought, there was a knock on the door.

"May we come in?" asked the female voice.

"Um…uh, sure…?" I answered, still confused. The new surroundings were already too much for me to handle, and now – out of the blue – strangers are visiting me?

The door opened and slowly, one by one, kids of my age began filling up the room, all wearing a set type of uniform.

The boys were wearing a cape – probably the part of the bard's suit. Their shirt was as white as my garment – and most of them were wearing black pants, some others had dark blue instead, but it looked very much like black anyway.

The girls were wearing red skirts almost up to their knee, and also white collar shirts – the sleeves up to the arms and brownish pinafores over them.

Each of them had a logo on the left side of their chest, and the logo was simply the silhouette of a dancer and a bard.

I gazed blankly at them as the last one came in, and closed the door.

Thankfully, the room was a bit spacious. There were probably at least a dozen of them – I couldn't count. There were too many heads in the room, and they were all higher than me.

"Axial, do you remember me?" Once of the amethyst-haired students asked.

"You're…" and when I paused, my memories flashed right through me.

"…Rins,"

"S-She remembers me!" she said, astonished at the "feat" I've managed to achieve.

That sent me further into a confused state.

"Then what about me?" The only emerald-haired girl asked.

"You're Ayla onee-san!" I immediately recognized her face. Why was she in that… uniform?

"Well… at least she remembers my name," she said.

"Ah, we were so worried about you, Axi,"

"You almost gave us a heart attack!"

"Do you know how important you are to us?"

"Thank God you're alright,"

One by one all these remarks and statements flood my consciousness as I had no idea what the hell happened after the Chimera incident. Besides, among the people that I recognize are only Rins and Ayla. The rest were probably my… classmates.

"_Since when did I have so many friends?_"

The noise seemed to be getting to me as I closed my eyes. Amidst the noise, someone clapped a few times before the noise calmed down.

"Now, now, everyone; She's a patient in the hospital, and she needs some rest," the really, really familiar voice told them what I thought. It was as if he read my mind.

The person – more specifically, the boy – stepped up and looked at me.

"Z-Zero?" I gasped at him.

"Zero? He isn't here," the boy told me.

"Then you're…?"

"I'm Keiro," he said as he bowed.

I simply smiled at him. But there were too many things on my mind, so I had to do something.

"Um, everyone," I asked timidly. I froze for a short while when everyone diverted their eyes towards me. It was so scary – the way they all did it at the same time. "C-Can you let me rest for a bit? Um… I have some stuff that I would like to ask Keiro privately,"

"Oh come on! What is it that you've got to hide from us?" voiced out the voice I knew too well – Vincent.

"This has nothing to do with you, Vincent," I said with a sly look on my face. Everyone laughed at that and began to leave the room.

All, except Keiro, as requested.

"So, what is it that you'd like to ask me?"

I looked outside the window. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" Keiro laughed when he heard me say that.

"What's so funny?" I hissed at him.

"You never say these types of things before," he remarked. I was quite confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing really. It's just my first time hearing you say that,"

I had a faint smile on my face before it quickly faded away. "What happened to me?" I asked him hesitantly.

"You were in a car accident,"

"Car…?"

"I'll explain more to you later," he added before he continued. "You received a hard hit to your head, so it bled – and apparently it…" he paused to take in a deep breath. It looked like as if he was choosing the right words to use. "…well, somehow, it affected your memory,"

"I think my memory is fine,"

"But it isn't,"

In what way was my memory wrong? It was all because of this new surrounding. Suddenly there were... cars, or whatever he called it, and the sudden flood of friends that I have. For some reason, Ayla onee-san is also a student, and I haven't seen my parents yet.

Did the Chimera really caused so much damage that Comodo was completely destroyed and someone had to take over and completely rebuild the village? But now it doesn't even look like a village anymore. What happen to the traditional wooden houses? Where are the shrines that were set up to honour the lost spirits? And more importantly… how the hell did I survive its Fireball attack?

But all these unanswerable questions were simply obstacles to my mind.

"Anyways, the doctors call it a partial Amnesia, but that's not what I think,"

"Then what do you think?"

"I think you just need time to get in touch with your old self," he said. "Then you'll be normal again,"

"Am I not normal now?"

"Not to us, no,"

"Souka…" and I thought this was the most natural expression I could've ever shown to anyone… anyone at all.

"When can I leave this place?"

"You'll be discharged in a few days time, when they think you're alright,"

"You mean there's still something in me?"

Keiro nodded. "They believe that the partial Amnesia is caused by a substance inside your body and blah-blah-blah"

From there on, I had no idea what the hell he was talking about.

My face showed the rather obvious expression though, so he stopped.

"I take it that I lost you?"

I simply nodded.

"Okay," he scratched his head before he started all over again.

"They believe there is something in you, which is messing up your memories,"

"Just **what** could affect my memories?"

"That's what they're trying to figure out," he said. "Until then, you'll have to stay here,"

"Oh… okay,"

Silence crept in as I had trouble processing all the new information I just received while he probably had nothing else to say to me.

"You really worried all of us, you know,"

"Am I…"

"Hmm?"

I shook my head. "Never mind,"

"Anyways, get some rest, okay?" he added before he stood up and was about to leave the room.

"Um… please wait!"

He turned his head so that I was within his view.

"Do you know where my parents are?"

"I'll have to ask your sister about that," he then opened the door and went out of the room.

Something is very wrong here… that, was what I finally concluded, even though I never wanted to believe in that conclusion.

------------+

Outside of Axial's room, all her classmates – well, friends – were waiting patiently outside, trying to remain silent but obviously couldn't.

"I feel so special – especially since she can still remember my name after that partial Amnesia!" Rins remarked.

"But why am I remembered as her sister?" Ayla asked.

"Maybe you two did something," Vincent said slyly while poking her. Ayla grabbed his finger and twisted it, sending him into the depths of pain.

"Isn't it great? She managed to survive that incident without any scars at all!"

"Maybe they used make ups to cover them up?"

"No, you silly! It won't be good for the scars!"

"How would you know?"

"I just know!"

Everyone was busy chatting away about what happened to Axial, except one boy – a navy-haired boy.

The moment the door opened, silence returned and that navy-haired boy stood up.

"How is she?" He asked.

"She's lost," Keiro replied. "And she mistaken me for you," he added.

Zero scratched his head, wondering what to say. "I guess I'm sorry?"

"It's okay," Keiro told him. "As for everyone else, she needs to rest for the day, so let's visit her next time, okay?"

"Awwww" the crowd moaned.

"No buts! Now, go home," he said kindly before he showed them the exit. Depressed, the group of students slowly exited the hospital, and so did Keiro.

Zero sighed. He approached the door and went in…

------------+

The door knob twisted as I observed the door itself swing open, revealing Keiro again.

"Did you miss something?"

"Of course I did," he replied. He walked in and sat right beside me.

"What's wrong?"

He was looking at me, his face was sad. He went out calmly and suddenly came back a sad boy? Obviously something wasn't right.

"You're Keiro… aren't you?"

He shook his head. I-It was Zero?

"I thought you left!"

"Since when?"

"Since that day…" and I screened through my memories again.

"I don't remember telling anyone I was leaving," he told me. And there I was – confused yet again.

"Zero, can you remember what happened?"

"You were involved in a car accident," he said. There's the "car" thing again.

"What's a car?" I asked him timidly, knowing that it was probably the most common thing known to everyone of my friends.

He stood up and went towards the window. "You see those big, moving things that people sit in?"

I turned towards the window. Ah yes, those weird things. Wait… **those?**

"They're vehicles, but the ones you see are generally known as cars," he explained to me.

"Are cars animals?"

"They're machines,"

"Those are machines?"

Zero nodded. "These things were invented by humans so that we are able to reach our destination safely,"

"Not only that, it is used to transport items and even other humans,"

Now that explains why occasionally there is more than just 1 person in that thing.

"What about the bigger ones that I see once in a while?" I asked him.

"Depends on how big they are. They could be lorries, buses or even vans," he told me.

"I think this is really going to be a big problem for me,"

"Don't worry, I'm here to help,"

It was that moment that I finally felt the feeling of being safe and secure, that feeling where you won't be left alone… oh, how I missed that wonderful feeling.

"Yeah… you're right," I said with a smile.


End file.
